First Jewish news network to go on air tomorrow

The first-ever Jewish news network will commence broadcasting this week, billed as an alternative to the popular Arab news broadcaster Al-Jazeera.

Jewish News 1 (JN1) will start broadcasting a 24/7 rolling news schedule on satellite in Europe, North America and the Middle East from tomorrow.

The network has already set up studios in Tel Aviv, Brussels and Kiev, and intends to launch additional facilities in Washington, Paris and London in the coming months, according to media reports.

It has only been confirmed so far that JN1 will broadcast on the Yes satellite network in Israel, and there are no indications as yet on UK availability.

JN1 was established by Igor Kolomoisky and Vadim Rabinovich, the president and vice president respectively of the European Jewish Union, to sit alongside the major networks, such as CNN, BBC News and Sky News.

However, the channel is widely perceived as an alternative to Al-Jazeera, the broadcaster that has gained fans both inside and outside the Arab world over the years.

JN1's slogan is "informing opinion, expanding horizons", and it is expected to offer a politically-unaffiliated yet pro-Israel Jewish viewpoint on issues in the Middle East.

"The arrival of JN1 on the global media landscape reflects the 21st century trend towards international news broadcasting diversification towards an ever-wider range of perspectives and points of view," the Jerusalem Post quoted the channel as saying.

It added that its goal was "to provide objective and balanced coverage of events while offering a fresh and unique perspective on contemporary affairs, filling a gap which existing channels are currently unable to provide".

The network will start broadcasting in English, but its managers want to eventually offer news in seven additional languages, including Hebrew, French, Italian, Russian and German.

Al-Jazeera has been highly successful in expanded its brand and distribution around the world, winning the best news channel on UK platform Freesat for the past two years running. The channel also arrived on digital terrestrial television service Freeview last summer.