History of Sega in Israel
From Sega Retro
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| History of Sega in Israel |
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| Official Sega distributor(s): Suny Electronics (1994-1998), Hed Arzi (200x-present) |
Sega did not establish any official distribution networks in Israel until the early 1990s, however businessman Ilan Ben-Dov is thought to have imported Sega goods into the country from as early as 1987. In 1991 Ben-Dov established Suny Electronics, which became an official Sega distributor until 1998, when the company began importing mobile phones instead.
In 1994, the company established Sunny Communication which became more known as Sega Israel and in 1996 also Sega Enterprises Israel was established which after breaking the contract with Sega became known as Astela Asets & Investments Ltd.[1]
During its tenure, Suny distributed Sega Mega Drive, Sega Game Gear , Sega Mega-CD and Sega Master System in the PAL system seen in Europe. The first games sold by Ilan Ben-Dov especially on the Master System also had stickers on cartridges in Hebrew .Unofficial Mega Drive clones also appear to have been a readily available option, with Suny seeing fit to issue advertisements noting the difference between official and unofficial stock (perhaps a curious stance, given the company also spent many years selling Famiclones to the Israeli market).The company also released Sega Saturn in 1996 .
Nowadays, the representative of the company is Hed Arzi.[2]Red Vault from Red Entertainment Distribution is also available in this country.[3]
In 1996, TCI's technology group got the rights to distribute Sega Channel in Israel , but it is not known that the service was launched there.