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Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC)

هيئة الإذاعة والتلفزيون الفلسطينية
Agency overview
Headquarters	Ramallah, Palestine
Agency executive	Ahmad Hazoury, General manager
Website	www.pbc.ps

The Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC; Arabic: هيئة الإذاعة والتلفزيون الفلسطينية, romanized: Hayʾat al-ʾIḏāʿa wa-t-Tilifizyūn al-Filasṭīniyya) or Palestine Public Broadcasting Corporation (الهيئة العامة للإذاعة والتلفزيون الفلسطينية al-Hayʾa l-ʿĀmma li-l-ʾIḏāʿa wa-t-Tilifizyūn al-Filasṭīniyya), also known as Palestine TV, was established on 1 July 1994 and is within the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.

PBC has a subsidiary radio station known as the Voice of Palestine and a satellite channel known as Palestinian Satellite Channel. Palestine TV first began broadcasting in 1996 in Gaza.

History

The first head of the PBC was Fatah activist and Arafat loyalist Radwan Abu Ayyash, former head of the Arab Journalists' Association. PBC had a terrestrial television network, comprising channel 5 in Naplose, channel 21 in Khan Younis, channel 21 in Jericho (very low power), channel 23 in Kasser-Elhakim, channel 25 in the capital Ramallah, channel 30 in Halhul, channel 31 in Jenin and channels 4 and 34 in Betjala. The channel in its early years broadcast twelve hours a day, up to eighteen hours on holiday periods.

On 19 January 2002, the Israel Defense Forces used explosives to destroy the five-story main building and transmission tower of the PBC in Ramallah claiming retaliation for the killing of six people by a Palestinian gunman linked to Fatah. The Israeli Government later singled out PBC for broadcasting material deemed to be anti-Semitic or that incited violence.

The broadcasting corporation is a former European Broadcasting Union associate member, and was alleged to have held negotiations with the European Broadcasting Union to become a full active members. However, Palestine is not a member of the required organisations, and thus does not comply with the criteria. Currently, the broadcaster is a member of the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ABSU).

Financing

The PBC was funded partially by the US government until 1998. In 2010, the President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree converting the PBC into a public institution.

References

1. Jamal, A (2005). Media politics and democracy in Palestine. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-84519-039-2, p. 78.
2. 2005 World Radio and Television Handbook, page 650
3. "Israel and the occupied territories". 2002 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. US Department of State.
4. BBC News Online, 'Palestinians seek $10m for radio attack', 24 January 2002.
5. Karhapää, Ilari (11 May 2007). "Palestinians wants to tell a different story". ESCToday. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
6. Repo, Juha (6 June 2012). "New EBU members? Not very likely". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
7. Brynen, Rex (2000). A very political economy: peacebuilding and foreign aid in the West Bank and Gaza. US Institute of Peace Press. ISBN 978-1-929223-04-6, p. 109
8. "Palestine Public Broadcasting Commission – ABU".

External links

• Official website

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• Publicly funded broadcasters
• Television stations in the State of Palestine
• Radio stations in the State of Palestine
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• Mass media in Ramallah
• State media
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