Right before the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, stories emerged about the Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA), who began their TV broadcasts in 1968 and have taken care of the Israeli participation in Eurovision since their debut in 1974, being shut down!

This was confirmed by Ofer Nachshon, the Israeli spokesperson’s, before he gave the votes. It was known that the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, IPBC in short (also known as KAN, ”here” in Hebrew) would be taking over but concerns were raised by the Eurovision Broadcasting Union (EBU) as 1) they saw too much government interference in broadcaster business 2) the channel would reportedly have no news broadcasts, a requirement to enjoy full EBU membership.

The split between news and entertainment taken by the parliament was halted by the Israeli court and IBPC has since the start been airing news every evening plus a more extensive look at the news on Thursday-, Friday-, Saturday- and Sunday nights!

IBPC have now applied for full EBU-membership and hope for Israel to be able to compete in Lisbon, Portugal next year for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018!