Eighteen months ago, i24NEWS chairman Frank Malul told “Globes” that the newly established Hebrew channel would become “a genuine player that would challenge the market.” The channel, which was launched during the war, hoped that calmer times would consolidate its operations. But despite the ceasefire in recent months, the ratings data are not encouraging.
Last week, an unusual announcement was made by the channel’s CEO Ronit Ganon Amit to employees: Altice US, the parent company that owns the i24NEWS channels, will stop investing in the channel and control will pass to the Drahi family, which controls Altice.
The announcement said, “Optimum (Altice US) has decided to focus its operations in the US and stop its investments in the channel… The Drahi family has decided to take the reins to operate the channels, continue their operations and improve what needs to be improved in order to continue to be a major player in the media market.”
The news came as a surprise to executives, and created confusion among employees. What is expected now? To answer this, the full picture must be understood.
Altice US problems
In 2001, Patrick Drahi, 61, founded communications company Altice and began acquiring European cable companies through it. The group later expanded to include operations in the US. In 2014, the company was floated at a valuation of around €6 billion. In a short time, the value more than doubled, but it later fell by 80% due to concerns about high leverage. In 2017, Altice USA was floated.
In 2021, Drahi purchased the public shares at a slightly higher price than at which they were issued, turning Altice into a private company. In recent years, Altice has included three arms: the US arm specializes in telecoms; the arm in France holds the large telecom operator SFR; and Altice International holds businesses in Portugal, and in the past, the activity in Israel (Hot) was also under it.
Unlike the other arms, Altice USA – which now operates under the name Optimum Communications – remained public. According to data published in 2022, Drahi held about 28% of the shares, and two years later it was reported that he sold a significant portion of his holdings in the company, for a total value of about $20 million. In addition, he also holds Optimum Communications through the holding company Next Alt. These three arms are grappling with huge debts, with the global media blaming the problematic practice of multiple loans and then putting pressure on creditors. Another reason for the increase in debts is the tactic of mergers and acquisitions. An article in “The Economist” noted that Altice’s debts grew from €2.2 billion in 2013 to €50 billion in 2017. It was also written that with Altice France, Drahi managed to impose a “haircut” of $8.6 billion, thus maintaining control of the company.
There has been much turmoil surrounding Altice USA in recent months. Just last week, the “Financial Times” reported that JP Morgan was facing the wrath of the bank’s big investors over Drahi’s telecom group.
According to the article, Altice was desperate to repay one of its loans, due to the fact that the terms of the loan limited its ability to raise new debt. In addition, this was also an opportunity to move some of the collateral promised to other lenders out of their reach. And so it did: JP Morgan granted Altice a $2 billion loan in November, and with this money it repaid the debt.
The move led to an explosion in the market, and several investors told the “Financial Times” that they were rethinking their relationship with the bank. One senior executive told the newspaper that “JP Morgan has crossed a line here that I don’t know if it has ever been crossed before.”
As if that wasn’t enough, a few hours later Altice US filed an antitrust lawsuit against its largest creditors, including BlackRock and JP Morgan, alleging collusion in an attempt to force the company to declare bankruptcy. According to published data, the US arm has debts of $26.5 billion, while the debt of Altice International, which also operates in Israel, is estimated at $34 billion.
Amid all this turmoil comes the announcement by the management of i24NEWS about the exit of Altice USA from the Israeli channel, which raises the question: does the company indeed prefer to invest in the US, or have the debts and legal problems reached their peak?
To this should be added that in the past year, whether because of the debts or because of the media legislation in Israel and the problem of cross-ownership, Drahi has been trying to get rid of his holdings in the Hot Group. It is currently being offered for sale piece by piece, but according to estimates, the total amount requested is up to €2 billion.
According to Prof. Miriam Schwartz-Ziv of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Business School, and former research fellow Corporate Governance at Harvard Law School, “It is likely that a highly leveraged company, which is in cash flow distress and has difficulty raising new financing, will act to reduce non-core activities, especially when it comes to activities that cause it losses, such as i24’s operations in Israel.
As i24NEWS reported a few days ago, Altice’s stock price fell by about 6%. In other words, it is not perceived by the market as a move that turns sentiment towards Altice as positive.”
Hiring and cuts
In the past, many market sources expressed concern about the chances of success of a news channel in Israel, a concern reflected in the ratings data of i24NEWS. The channel’s programming has recently failed to break through the 1% rating threshold. The exception is Sixth Cabinet with Naveh Dromi, which achieves about 3% ratings (previously more than channels 11 and 13, and currently similar to 11).
The i24NEWS channel, which broadcasts from studios at Jaffa Port has about 350 employees. Among the media people hired in the past year and a half are Miri Michaeli, Zvi Yehezkeli, Naveh Dromi, Sharon Gal, Michal Rabinovich, Niv Gilboa, Yossi Yehoshua, Daniel Roth Avnery, and more. According to senior market sources, some of the employees are already considering their futures on other channels. The general picture is of confusion and uncertainty.
Added to this the channel’s management has informed the Journalists Union that it intends to make significant budget cuts. At this stage, the extent of the cuts is still unclear, but the CEO is committed to negotiations on the matter with the Journalists Union.
Added to all these problems at the channel is the unresolved business model. The channel has agreements with media companies, but the revenue possibilities have not yet been truly explored, and advertising revenue are still not high enough.
The biggest concern stems mainly from the large number of ‘celebrity’ recruitments at salaries higher than the average in the market. Management, on the other hand, is trying to reassure and explain that the choice to transfer ownership to Drahi demonstrates trust in the brand. According to this explanation, this will allow business opportunities in Israel to be maximized and a large media group to be created here.
No response has been forthcoming from i24NEWS, Patrick Drahi and Altice.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on December 22, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.
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