 Logo of Keshet International division | |
 | |
Native name | שידורי קשת |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Avi Nir, CEO[1] |
| Products | |
Number of employees | 500[2] |
| Divisions |
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| Website | Official website |
Keshet Media Group, also known as the Keshet company (Hebrew:קשת,lit. 'Rainbow'), is an Israeli private mass media company headquartered inTel Aviv.[3] Its media and online news outletMako is one of the major Israeli ones.
The company has operated Keshet Broadcasting, a television broadcast operator and a franchisee of Israel'sChannel 2, since 1993 and up until November 2017. Since November 2017's licensing reform, it was rebranded in Israel asKeshet 12, a separate channel.
Keshet shows original drama series, entertainment, current affairs, lifestyle shows, and foreign programs. Keshet's global production and distribution arm is Keshet International,[4] and the company's digital branch is Mako, one of the top three most-visited websites inIsrael.[5]
Keshet was established in 1993 and is one of Israel's largest media companies.[3]Avi Nir has been thechief executive officer of Keshet since 2002.[2] Keshet is responsible for shows includingPrisoners of War (Hatufim),Rising Star (HaKokhav HaBa)[6] andWhen Heroes Fly.
Keshet was founded in 1993 when Israel'sChannel 2 was formed along with two other operators,Telad andReshet.[7] The company was started by Alex Gilady, the current president of Keshet[8] and a former vice president at NBC International in London.[9]
The first drama series Keshet produced was in 1996 calledBat Yam, New York. That same year, Channel 2 became the most watched channel in Israel.[5]What a Wonderful Country (Eretz Nehederet), a TV series similar toSaturday Night Live, aired its first season in 2003 and has since become one of the most popular shows on Israeli TV.[10][11]
In 2005, a committee formed by theSecond Israeli Broadcasting Authority selected two of the three operators to run the next phase of Channel 2, one of only two channels allowed to run commercials. Keshet came first and was awarded four broadcasting days per week. The other two days were awarded to Reshet.[12] That same year, Keshet purchased the rights toUvda, an investigative and current affairs program hosted byIlana Dayan. The show was originally launched in 1993 and has been the only continuously running program since the launch of commercial television in Israel.[13][14]
In 2007, Keshet launched the Israeli version ofBig Brother calledHaAh HaGadol. It became the most-watched television show of the year and remains one of the highest-rated shows in Israel. In 2010, Keshet launchedPrisoners of War (Hatufim), which was also sold toShowtime and developed intoHomeland a year later with Keshet as an executive producer.[5][15]
Keshet also runs the IsraeliMusic 24, Netex New Media, aHebrew-language website directory, and the comedy outletBip, all integrated under news and entertainment portal,mako.[16]
In 2012, Keshet Media Group Avi Nir launched and hosted the inaugural Innovation in Television (INTV) confab, a two-day conference in Jerusalem that has featured a stellar line up of the most prominent industry leaders, creators, executives and thinkers over the course of the six events to date.[17][18][19] The seventh edition is scheduled for March 2021.[20]
Keshet has been selling formats under Keshet Formats since 2000. In 2012,Keshet International was established as the global production and distribution branch of Keshet Media Group.[21] It has operations in the United Kingdom, Keshet Productions[22] and Greenbird;[23] Hong Kong, Keshet Asia;[24] the United States, Keshet Studios;[25] and Germany, Tresor;[26] and Keshet Tresor Fiction.[27]
Mako is an Israeli news and entertainment portal owned and operated by Keshet which offers video on-demand content from Keshet shows,Channel 2 news programs,Bip (Comedy Channel) andMusic 24 (Israeli Music Channel). In addition, it hosts user-created content in Haambatia, and provides written content covering news, entertainment, sports, music, TV, food, comedy, "Home & Family", "Digital", "Spirit" and "Women and Men".
Originally Keshet Broadcasting was one of two operators that ran the mainIsraeli commercial television channel,Channel 2, from 1993 to 2017 until the Channel 2 split.
In November 2017, Channel 2 closed down, while Keshet Broadcasting is rebranded and relaunched as Keshet 12, a new TV channel broadcasting 24/7, unlike Channel 2, which broadcast Keshet content for a few days per week.[28]
Keshet has also invested in the production of various films in the Israeli cinema industry over the past two decades. Keshet financed films includingThe Band's Visit,Lebanon,[37]Dancing in Jaffa,[38] andGett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem by Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz, which was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2015.[39] Other films Keshet has financed include:[40]
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