Subscribe to Print Edition | Sun., September 07, 2008 Elul 7, 5768 | | Israel Time: 01:10 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Treasury, state broadcaster make a deal By Ophir Bar-Zohar Tags: IBA, Israel Representatives of the Finance Ministry and the Israel Broadcasting Authority reached an agreement Wednesday on the future of the state-run radio and television unit. IBA chairman Moshe Gavish and treasury budget director Ram Belinkov hammered out the deal, which outlines a five-year recovery plan for the beleaguered broadcaster. The program calls for cutting around 700 jobs. IBA officials hope the talks on the cutbacks can be completed by the end of September, paving the way for the formal signing of the agreement. Advertisement The idea, which has been at least a year in the making, is to revamp the broadcaster's physical and technological infrastructure, with an injection of about NIS 790 million over the five-year period. Some of the money will come directly from state coffers, with the remainder from bank loans. The funding comes with strings attached, however. There are clear milestones in the five-year plan, and if the IBA does not meet its targets it will lose some of the money for reforms. About NIS 330 million is to be allocated to infrastructure. Programming and production costs are expected to increase annually, from NIS 20 million in 2008 to NIS 200 million in 2013. These numbers include all parts of the IBA: Television channels 1 and 33, the various Israel Radio stations and radio broadcasts in Arabic. While about 700 employees will be leaving the IBA, about 150 new employees will be hired on. In mid-July the IBA introduced a number of draconian cost-cutting measures to reduce its budget deficit. One month before that, the authority announced that it expected a NIS 150 million deficit in 2008. The measures included the suspension of a number of programs that were replaced by repeat broadcasts, the closure of studios over the weekend, the suspension of the use of mobile broadcast vehicles, mandatory vacations and the suspension of nighttime radio programs. Some of these measures were reversed at the start of the month, to the delight of many lonely hearts, nostalgia buffs and night owls. Bookmark to del.icio.us   But you cannot hide Court rules Michigan resident helped liquidate Polish Jews during Holocaust. Junk TV Airing of first Palestinian soap opera was cancelled because topics were 'too liberal'.

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