Israeli TV Channels Explained: Kan 11, Channel 12, Channel 13, Channel 14 and i24NEWS

Israeli television runs on a handful of national channels: Kan 11, Channel 12, Channel 13, Channel 14 and, in English, i24NEWS. This guide says what each one shows, who runs it, when its main programs air in US time, and how the channels reach a television in the United States.

What are the main Israeli TV channels?

Five channels carry most of what Israelis watch: Kan 11, the public broadcaster; Channel 12, run by Keshet; Channel 13, run by Reshet; Channel 14; and i24NEWS, which broadcasts in English. The first three are general channels with news, drama and entertainment, Channel 14 leans on news and studio talk, and i24NEWS is news around the clock. Kan Educational serves children, and the Israeli sports channels carry soccer and basketball.

The numbers are not a ranking. They are the positions the channels held on Israeli cable and satellite, and they stuck as names: people say "Channel 12" the way Americans say "CBS". All of them are in the lineup that every plan on this site carries. Lineups can change over time, so if one channel matters most to you, ask on WhatsApp before you order.

Kan 11: what does the public broadcaster show?

Kan 11 is the main channel of the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, which took over from the old Israel Broadcasting Authority in 2017. It airs Kan News at 8 pm, current-affairs programs, documentaries, culture and a run of Israeli-made drama series, several of which were later remade or sold abroad. Kan also runs Kan Educational for children and Makan 33 in Arabic, and it carries the state ceremonies of Israel's memorial days and holidays.

For a viewer in the US, the 8 pm newscast lands at 1 pm in New York and 10 am in Los Angeles. Many people watch it at their own dinner time instead, on channels that offer catch-up.

Channel 12 (Keshet 12): why is it the most watched?

Channel 12 has held the largest audience in Israel for years. It belongs to Keshet Media Group, and its 8 pm N12 News is the country's most watched newscast. Around the news sit the big entertainment formats, reality shows and the drama series that Keshet produces and later sells to broadcasters in the United States and Europe. When Israelis talk about "the news", this is usually the channel they mean.

Channel 12 grew out of the old Channel 2, which Keshet shared with Reshet until 2017. That split is why Channel 12 and Channel 13 look like siblings and compete for the same evening slot.

Channel 13 (Reshet 13) and Channel 14: the other newsrooms

Channel 13 is run by Reshet, the other half of the old Channel 2. It airs its own 8 pm news, investigative programs, satire and prime-time series, and it competes with Channel 12 for the same viewers. Channel 14 started as a Jewish heritage channel and turned into a news and talk channel; its studio debates run through the evening, and its audience has grown fast since 2022, with a tone that sits to the right of the two commercial channels.

Together with Kan 11, that makes four newsrooms covering the same day from four angles, all in Hebrew, all at 8 pm Israel time. On a US plan you switch between them the way you would at home.

Is there an Israeli news channel in English?

Yes: i24NEWS. It broadcasts around the clock from Tel Aviv with an English channel, and separate feeds in French and Arabic. The English channel carries hourly news, interviews and debate programs, and it is the channel to keep on when someone at home does not read Hebrew. Kan publishes English news on its website and its radio arm has English bulletins, but the main Hebrew channels do not subtitle their newscasts. The news section of the home page lists the news channels in the lineup.

Which Israeli channels are for children?

Kan Educational (Kan Hinuchit) is the public children and family channel, with Hebrew programs for preschoolers and school-age kids, from cartoons to quiz shows and science. For families abroad it is one of the easiest ways to keep Hebrew alive at home: the hosts speak plainly, the vocabulary repeats, and the shows are the ones cousins in Israel watch. The on-demand library adds Israeli kids series and dubbed international ones, so there is something for a rainy Sunday too.

Which channels show Israeli sports?

Israeli Premier League (Ligat Ha'Al) soccer, the basketball league and Israel's national teams air on the Israeli sports channels: Sport 5, Sport 1 and ONE, depending on who holds the rights to each competition that season. Evening games in Israel kick off at 8 or 9 pm, which is early afternoon in New York and late morning on the West Coast, so a Saturday match day fits around lunch in the US. Whether a given game is shown depends on each channel's rights, and none of the leagues or channels has any tie to this site.

HOT, yes and the pay channels

Inside Israel, the free channels are only part of the remote. Most homes also pay for a package from HOT, the cable operator, or yes, the satellite operator, or from one of the internet TV services sold by phone companies. Those packages add sports channels, movie channels, children's channels such as Hop! and Nickelodeon in Hebrew, documentary and music channels, and series made for the pay channels themselves. Several of the best known Israeli dramas started there: BeTipul on HOT, Fauda and Shtisel on yes. These packages are sold to Israeli addresses only, which is why Israelis who move to the US lose them on day one.

What crosses the ocean is the content, not the package. The Israeli TV series guide sorts those dramas by genre and says where each one aired first.

Smaller channels worth knowing

Beyond the big five, a few channels serve specific audiences. The Knesset Channel broadcasts parliament sessions and committee hearings, and it becomes a popular watch on nights of tense votes. Makan 33, run by Kan, broadcasts in Arabic for Arab citizens of Israel. Channel 9 broadcasts in Russian for the large community of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, with news and entertainment from an Israeli point of view. Music 24 plays Israeli music videos all day. Religious and heritage programming also has its own slots. These channels matter less for ratings, but they are often the first ones a specific family asks for.

Why do the channel numbers jump around?

The numbers come from history, not from a ranking. For decades Israel had Channel 1, the state channel, then Channel 2 from 1993 and Channel 10 from 2002. In 2017 the state broadcaster was replaced by Kan, whose main channel took position 11, and Channel 2 was split between its two operators, which gave Keshet 12 and Reshet 13. Channel 10 was later merged into Reshet's channel, and the old Channel 20 became Channel 14. Older relatives still mix up the names, so "Channel 2" at the dinner table usually means Channel 12 today.

Which channel to watch for what

• The evening news with the largest audience: Channel 12.
• Measured news, documentaries and prestige drama: Kan 11.
• Investigations and satire: Channel 13, plus Eretz Nehederet on Channel 12.
• Political debate through the evening: Channel 14.
• News in English: i24NEWS.
• Children: Kan Educational.
• Soccer and basketball: Sport 5, Sport 1 and ONE.

The complete guide to Israeli TV in the US puts all of this together with news habits, series, sports and the holiday calendar, and the Israeli news live guide gives every newscast in US time.

How the channels change on holidays

The Israeli calendar reshapes the schedule several times a year. On Yom Kippur the channels stop broadcasting for the day. On Memorial Day the channels air ceremonies, documentaries and stories of the fallen, and at nightfall they switch to the Independence Day celebrations and the torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl. During Passover and Sukkot the channels fill the holiday week with family films and specials. Knowing this saves a puzzled call when a favorite show does not air: the reason is usually the date.

What time do Israeli channels air in the US?

Israel is usually 7 hours ahead of New York, 8 ahead of Chicago, 9 ahead of Denver and 10 ahead of Los Angeles. The table converts the three main slots of the Israeli evening.

For a few weeks in March and around the start of November the gap shrinks by an hour, because Israel and the United States change their clocks on different dates. The clocks on the home page show the real gap of the day and let you pick your US city.

How do you get these channels on a TV in the United States?

Through a plan that streams them over your internet connection. You choose a plan and a length, receive a login, and enter it in a player app on a Fire TV Stick, a Smart TV, Android TV, Apple TV, a phone or a computer. The channels then play live, with an on-demand library beside them, and nothing renews by itself when the period ends.

The Home plan starts at $11.99 for one month and carries the whole Israeli lineup on one screen. The Family plan adds the largest series library, and the Complete 4K plan plays titles offered in 4K on a 4K set. Households with several screens take the multi-screen version of any of the three. For the device side, the guide on apps and devices goes through each one.