Fox News is now set to become the cable news provider of choice in Israel

Cable TV viewers in Israel are about to get their news a little more "Fair and Balanced" (TM). The New York Post today reports that the country's largest cable system, HOT, has dropped current news provider CNN in favor of Fox News. The deal, which will bring Rupert Murdoch's 24-hour-a-day stream of pro-war, pro-Israeli rhetoric into more than half of all Israeli homes, was struck after negotiations between CNN and HOT fell apart over how much money CNN head Ted Turner was charging to carry the news channel. Not helping the network's case, of course, is the fact that the network is perceived by some in the Holy Land (and certainly right-wingers here) to be pro-Arab. The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera English had previously been declared the front-runner to replace CNN, but ultimately lost out to the sweet, sweet cooings of Team Murdoch.

Israel now joins Iraq, North Korea, and Myanmar as the only countries that do not carry CNN.