In a year’s time Israel’s non-stop news channel, i24news, owned by Patrick Drahi, should have an American version.
Patrick Drahi
The Franco-Israeli businessman announced this to the press on June 22nd. He was in New York to sign the purchase of Cablevision System, a leader in US cable operators, for nearly $18 billion.
Distributed by local operators, the US version of i24news will be oriented towards “The Middle East and the United States”. Patrick Drahi hopes to fill the space left by the closure of Al Jazeera America in April this year.
Launched in 2013, i24news employs 250 journalists from some thirty countries and has an editorial staff who are French, English and Arabic-speaking.
Patrick Drahi, currently producing Israeli series whose formats are exported across the world, has also announced plans to replicate this model in France and to create several series for the French market from 2017, via SFR. To achieve this he has set up Original Creation, with Nora Melhli, former Director of Shine Films France and Endemol Fiction, at the helm.
Sources: Challenges, Satellifax
