Channel 9 ( rus, 9 канал, p=ˈdʲevʲɪtʲ kɐˈnaɫ) is a television station in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, formerly known as Israel Plus (russian: Израиль Плюс). It primarily broadcasts in the
Russian language
Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is one of four living E ...
, with or without Hebrew subtitles, but also broadcasts some shows in Hebrew with Russian subtitles. As of 2013, it is primarily owned by investor
Alexander Levin.
History
In September 2001,
Africa Israel Investments
Africa Israel Investments Ltd. (AFI Group) is an international holding and investment company based in Yehud, Israel. The group consists of several private and public companies active in areas such as real estate, construction, infrastructure, ...
, a financial group headed by
Lev Leviev won the tender for the creation of Israel TV channel in Russian. Established in November 2002, the channel's first CEO was
Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich, who led the company until February 2004. The station began broadcasting on 12 November 2002.
In 2013 Africa Israel sold the channel to group of private investors led by Alexander Levin.
Market
The channel is aimed at the one million plus Russian speakers who have
immigrated to the country since 1990. It was rebranded as Channel 9 (9 Kanal), the channel on which it is broadcast on
cable and
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...
. It is available in North America via
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...
satellite on
Galaxy 25
Galaxy 25 (G-25) launched in 1997, the launch was contracted by International Launch Services (ILS), (formerly known as Intelsat Americas 5 (IA-5) until 15 February 2007 when it was renamed as result of the merger between owner Intelsat and Pan ...
.
See also
*
Russian language in Israel
The Russian language is spoken natively by a considerable proportion of the population of Israel, mostly by immigrants who came from the former Soviet Union from 1989 onwards. It is a major foreign language in the country, and is used in m ...
References
External links
*
{{Refusenik movement and 1990s post-Soviet aliyah
Television channels in Israel
Russian-language mass media in Israel
Russian-language television stations
Television channels and stations established in 2002
2002 establishments in Israel