As part of the aforementioned amendment, significant benefits were given to the so-called microchannels, as detailed in the table below. Some of these were permanent, while others were given for a period of five years from the date of legislation, which was defined as a “transition period” to allow the microchannels to adapt to the new regulation. These five years ended in February 2023, and since then Karhi twice pushed through an amendment of the law in order to extend the transition period, so that at the moment the “temporary” benefits are set to expire only on 25 February 2026. In July 2024, at the hearings of the Knesset Economic Committee where the extension was discussed and approved, Karhi announced that this was to be a temporary measure, but nevertheless he has continued to pursue his main plan to exempt Channel 14 from these obligations permanently.

Beyond the fact that the benefits intended for a microchannel are irrelevant to Channel 14, whose flagship program currently enjoys ratings that exceed those of Kan 11 and occasionally those of Channel 13 as well, it is clear that the far-reaching concessions to Channel 14 are intended to conserve it as the government’s propaganda channel, as authoritarian regimes typically do. Not only do these benefits allow it to go on operating and to ceaselessly promulgate the government’s positions, but also to tighten its grip on the media market and improperly and corruptly advance its interests