Original English channel

The original channel went live on July 17, 2013. Franck Melloul, the CEO, stated that it would battle prejudice and ignorance about Israel with “facts and diversity.”^[1][2]

Arab Israeli journalist Lucy Aharish was the lead anchor of the original English-language branch of the channel from July 2013 until she resigned in January 2016. Her show, The News Today, was replaced by News Now with Merav Savir. News Now was canceled after only a few months of broadcasting, ahead of changes to the network.

On December 8, 2016, all programming on the English channel officially ended in preparation for launching in America. The channel broadcast 10 minutes of news on the hour, from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. (local time), and replaced Morning Edition, The Daily Beat, and The Lineup with a 26-minute news bulletin, repeated at half past each hour.

Current English channel

The launch of i24NEWS in the United States was announced on January 27, 2017. The channel is operated out of its headquarters in Jaffa.

Live programming is broadcast from Times Square in New York City, with an additional bureau in Washington, D.C. Approximately 50 journalists were hired to staff the two locations.^[3] The channel uses resources from its Jaffa headquarters.

Initial distribution is limited to Altice USA-owned Optimum and Suddenlink cable systems. In November 2017, Spectrum began to roll out the channel nationwide. December 2019, it was added to AT&T U-Verse on channels 223 and 1223.

Among the first journalists hired were Michelle Makori, who is also the Editor-in-Chief, David Shuster, who is also the managing editor, and Dan Raviv, a veteran of over 40 years with CBS News. The channel acquired many of its initial behind-the-scenes personnel from the former Al Jazeera America channel.^[4][5]