Tal-Pharm that operates television services in hospitals will reduce prices

Tal-Pharm, the company that operates the television services in non-private hospitals, informed the chairman of the Cable and Satellite Council, Yifat Ben-Hai Segev, that it is preparing to reduce the price of service as requested by the Director General of the Ministry of Health on November 1. The exact rate will be published shortly.
 Last month, the company asked the Ministry of Communications to extend its license. In the framework of a consultation with the Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting, as the body that supervises HOT broadcasts transmitted to patients through it. We emphasize that HOT is not a party to the matter and is the content provider only. The head of the consumer protection department, Meirav Strosberg-Elkabetz, replied that before the company's license is extended, its reasonableness should be examined as it is significantly higher than the price of a home subscription.
In recent years, with the introduction of new transmitters over the Internet, which are not supervised by the Council, customers are offered smaller and cheaper TV packages than in the past, at a cost of NIS 50-150 per month, while the price of television for hospitalized patients has not changed significantly since 2010, Per month per patient.
Following the request, it was decided to temporarily extend Telegram's license by only three months, and as part of the consideration of whether to extend the license for a longer period, the chairman of the council, Dr. Yifat Ben Hai Segev, wrote to the Director General of the Ministry of Communications: "My recommendation is not to approve the extension of the license To the Company before it proposes to the State a clear price reduction plan for the next license period.
Price reduction as a condition for extension of the license is consistent with the Minister's declared policy to reduce the price of television broadcasts that the public pays and increase competition in the industry. Continuing to issue a license to a company that acts as a monopoly in practice in most hospitals in Israel, without any obligation to lower prices, at a time when prices are falling in the multi-channel television industry.
The company announced in its letter that it would reduce its tariffs while maintaining significant discounts for special populations such as soldiers.
The chairman of the Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting, Yifat Ben Hai Segev, said: "I welcome the reduction and compare it to the prices of the director general of the Ministry of Health, but I do not expect that the company will present a more significant outline for price reduction as part of the possibility that its license is extended. Prisoners who can not choose a competing company, watching television is an essential commodity for a person who is in bed and should make it easier for the patients and their families, who are already dealing with high expenses during the hospitalization period. "