Private | |
Industry | Media |
Founded | 1993 |
Headquarters | Tel Aviv, Israel |
Key people
|
Avi Nir, CEO |
Products | |
Number of employees
|
500 |
Divisions |
|
Website | Official website |
Keshet Media Group, also known as Keshet (Hebrew: קשת, lit. "Rainbow"), is a private Israeli mass media company headquartered in Tel Aviv.
The company has operated Keshet Broadcasting, a television broadcast operator and a franchisee of Israel’s Channel 2, since 1993. It shows original drama series, entertainment, current affairs, lifestyle shows, and foreign programs. Keshet’s global production and distribution arm is Keshet International, and the company's digital branch is Mako, one of the top three most-visited websites in Israel.
Keshet was established in 1993 and is one of Israel's largest media companies.Avi Nir has been serving as the chief executive officer of Keshet Media Group since 2002. As a leading network in Israel, Keshet is responsible for shows including Prisoners of War (Hatufim) and Rising Star (Hacokav haba).
Keshet was founded in 1993 when Israel’s Channel 2 was formed along with two other operators, Telad and Reshet. The company was started by Alex Gilady, the current president of Keshet and a former vice president at NBC International in London.
The first drama series Keshet produced was in 1996 called Bat Yam, New York. That same year, Channel 2 became the most watched channel in Israel.What a Wonderful Country (Eretz Nehederet), a TV series similar to Saturday Night Live, aired its first season in 2003 and has since become one of the most popular shows on Israeli TV.
In 2005, a committee formed by the Second 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. That same year, Keshet purchased the rights to Uvda, an investigative and current affairs program hosted by Ilana Dayan. The show was originally launched in 1993 and has been the only continuously running program since the launch of commercial television in Israel.