High Court issues order nisi against Minister Karhi's regional radio reform
The judges temporarily halted the move to expand the broadcast area of several regional radio stations. The parties, including Minister Karhi, must submit their responses to the High Court by October 4.
The High Court issued an order nisi today, Tuesday, against the implementation of the reform decided upon by Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi regarding the expansion of the broadcast area of several regional radio stations. According to the decision, the parties, including Minister Karhi, must submit their responses on the matter by October 4.
The order was issued against the implementation of a series of directives issued by Minister Karhi last May under special emergency powers in the Communications Law that allow for compelling communications providers to act for reasons of state security. Using this clause, Karhi granted "in-principle approval" to the Haredi radio stations ("Kol Hai" and "Kol Berama"), as well as to the stations "A-Shams", "Radio Nas", and "Radio Lev HaMedina-Provia", to expand their broadcasts to the north of the country, claiming an operational need to transmit alerts and preliminary instructions to the Haredi public that holds "kosher" devices.
Sources in the media industry claimed at the time that this is not the first time Minister Karhi has tried to promote the transformation of regional stations into stations with a national frequency. However, those in the minister's circle emphasized after the publication of the directives that during wartime, the desire is to save lives - both in the Jewish sector and in the Arab sector.
The one who expressed opposition to the minister's moves is the Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who wrote to the High Court that this is not an emergency directive but a voluntary "program on demand" initiated by the stations themselves to gain a commercial foothold in new areas. According to her, the move grants a huge economic benefit to a number of private broadcasting entities in the midst of an election period, and above all, according to her, there is a full and accessible public response in the form of the "Kan" broadcasting corporation, which has already announced that it is capable of transmitting the preliminary instructions on the "Kan Moreshet" station, which completely undermines the argument of security "necessity".
In any case, the Attorney General writes, the granting of the benefit is also invalid due to the lack of a tender process:
"The amendment grants the existing regional radio stations a significant economic and regulatory advantage, and this without sufficient justification for granting it outside of a competitive process".
