 The company was founded on August 18, 2003 as union of the three national cable companies in Israel – Matav, Tevel, and Golden Channels that can be directly linked to the growing competition of the local satellite television provider Yes.While these companies had pursued a union since the late 1990s in order to save administrative and content purchasing costs, and especially after Yes was founded in order to annihilate it before it could grow, the Israeli government monopoly regulator had denied it until the time when Yes had grown at least a minimum subscriber base.The three original companies had not competed with each other since each had been regulated with specific cities and regions around the country.