Israeli Educational Television - History

History

IETV was established in 1965 as a joint project of the Israeli Ministry of Education and the Rothschild Fund. It was the first television station in Israel, and its first broadcast, launched in March 1966, was the first television transmission in Israel. In those days the Israeli government was reluctant to introduce television transmissions claiming it would lead to cultural decadence. However limited broadcasts as an instructional tool were approved.

The first transmission was launched on March 24, 1966. Levi Eshkol, the Israeli prime minister, pressed a symbolic button to mark the beginning of the transmission. Lord Jacob Rothschild delivered a speech on behalf of the Rothschild Fund. The then-called Instructional Television Trust opened its regular transmission with televised broadcasts of Mathematics, Biology and English classes. 60 TV sets were distributed to 32 schools to receive the first broadcasts and comment on their quality. From the early 70's and until the early 90's it was known as the "Instructional Television Centre".

Within its first year of existence the IETV expanded its infrastructure, and began to broadcast nation-wide. In May 1968 it began to share its channel with the newly established IBA's general public channel. The two organizations would share a single channel for many years to come, the only Israeli TV channel until the late eighties, when the experimental transmissions of the Israeli Channel 2 started.

IETV programmes are currently broadcast on terrestrial Channel 23, which is also relayed in HOT cable TV and Yes satellite systems, 24 hours a day (midnight-8am are re-runs). The station also shares airtime on the Channel 1 and 2 terrestrial outlets.

The station has remained an autonomous unit of the Ministry of Education, and currently broadcasts around 215 hours of programming every week.