Jewish News 1 launches today

Jewish News 1 (JN1), a new 24-hour Brussels-based English-language channel offering news from a Jewish perspective, launches today, kicking off with a launch event at 16:00.

The channel, which currently has studios in Tel Aviv, Brussels and Kyiv, plans to air in seven further languages, including Hebrew, French, Italian, Russian and German, later. It also has plans to open studios in Washington, Paris and London over the next few months.

JN1, which will be broadcast via satellite to Europe, North America and the Middle East, has secured carriage with Israeli DTH pay TV operator Yes, according to local Israeli reports.

The channel will present news from a Jewish perspective, according to editor-in-chief Alexander Zanzer, competing in particular with Al Jazeera’s English-language channel.

The channel is backed by Igor Kolomoisky (one of a number of Ukrainian businessmen behind the country’s Privat Group industrial conglomerate) and Vadim Rabinovich (another Ukrainian businessman, and president of the Arsenal Kyiv football club), respectively the president and vice-president of the European Jewish Union. The pair have reportedly invested US$5 million (€3.6 million) in the venture.