Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government.[1] SBS operates six TV channels (SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, SBS Food, NITV and SBS WorldWatch) and seven radio networks (SBS Radios 1, 2 and 3, Arabic24, SBS Chill, SBS PopDesi and SBS PopAsia).
Logo used since 2019 | |
| Type | Public service broadcaster |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1 January 1978 |
| Founder | Fraser government |
| Headquarters | 14 Herbert Street Artarmon, New South Wales, Australia |
Key people | George Savvides (Chairman) James Taylor (Managing Director) |
| Owner | Australian Government |
| Divisions | SBS Television SBS Radio |
| Website | sbs.com.au |
SBS Online is home to SBS On Demand video streaming service. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect Australia's multicultural society".[2] SBS is one of five main free-to-air networks in Australia.
History
As a result of extensive post-World War II immigration to Australia and the end of the controversial and racist White Australia Policy, the federal government began to consider the need for "ethnic broadcasting" – programming targeted at ethnic minorities and mostly delivered in languages other than English. Until 1970, radio stations were prevented by law from broadcasting in foreign languages for more than 2.5 hours per week.[3] In June 1975, two "experimental" radio stations began broadcasting: 2EA in Sydney and 3EA in Melbourne (EA stood for "Ethnic Australia"). In March 1976, the federal government established the Consultative Committee on Ethnic Broadcasting, followed by the National Ethnic Broadcasting Advisory Council in January 1977. Initially, it was considered feasible for ethnic broadcasting to be delivered by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC); however, this plan was abandoned in mid-1977.[4]
In October 1977, the government announced the creation of SBS as a new independent statutory authority for ethnic broadcasting.[5] This was achieved as a result of an amendment[6] to the Broadcasting Act 1942. SBS formally came into existence on 1 January 1978.[4] The inaugural Chair of SBS was Grisha Sklovsky, and the inaugural executive director was Ronald Fowell. The service was initially a radio network, and had oversight only of the two existing stations 2EA and 3EA.[4] It was always intended that it would be enlarged, but this process was controversial – the Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations wanted the television functions to be controlled by the ABC.[7]
In March 1979, the government set up the Ethnic Television Review Panel, which recommended that SBS should expand multilingual services into television. SBS TV began test transmissions in April 1979 when it showed various foreign language programs on ABV-2 Melbourne and ABN-2 Sydney on Sunday mornings. Full-time transmission began on a new television channel at 6:30 pm on 24 October 1980 (United Nations Day). The first program shown was a documentary entitled Who Are We?, which was hosted by veteran news presenter Peter Luck. At the time, SBS was broadcasting on UHF Channel 28 and VHF Channel 0 (pronounced as "oh" and not "zero"), with a planned discontinuation of the latter at some time in the future. Bruce Gyngell, who introduced television to Australia in 1956, was given the task of introducing the first batch of programs on the new station.
SBS programming content was initially imported from the suppliers in the countries-of-origin of Australia's major migrant communities and then subtitled into English.[8]
In October–November 1983, the service expanded to service the centres of Canberra, Cooma and Goulburn,[9][10][11] subsequently changing its name to Network 0–28. Its new slogan was the eventual long-running "Bringing the World Back Home".[12] The network changed its name to simply SBS in February 1985 and soon began daytime transmissions.[9] SBS also expanded to the cities of Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Gold Coast in June of that year.[9]
On 5 January 1986, SBS ceased broadcasting on the VHF channel 0 frequency. Although many Australians at the time did not have UHF antennas, SBS's VHF licence had already been extended by a year at this stage and not all antennas had worked well with the low-frequency Channel 0.[13]
In August 1986, the government proposed legislation that would amalgamate SBS into the ABC. This was highly unpopular with ethnic-minority communities,[14] and after protests from both SBS staff and communities, resulted in the Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawke announcing in 1987 that the proposed amalgamation would not proceed.[15] The SBS Radio and Television Youth Orchestra was soon launched in 1988 with founding conductor Matthew Krel.[16]
Plans to introduce limited commercial-program sponsorship, as well as the establishment of SBS as an independent corporation with its own charter, were put in place in July 1989. A program called Eat Carpet, showcasing local and international short films, was also launched in 1989.[17] The formation of the Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991 officially made SBS a corporation in 1991. Throughout the early 1990s, SBS TV coverage was expanded further to include new regional areas such as the Latrobe Valley, Spencer Gulf, Darwin, northeast Tasmania, Cairns and Townsville.[18][19][20]
In 1992, SBS's radio and television facilities were gradually relocated to new premises in Artarmon, New South Wales. Radio services were initially located in Bondi Junction and television services in Milsons Point. The new building was officially opened on 10 November 1993 by the prime minister, Paul Keating, and a national radio network was launched in January 1994. The new service initially covered Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Darwin, while original stations 2EA and 3EA were renamed Radio Sydney and Radio Melbourne respectively. However, the new national service was launched on a separate frequency in Sydney and Melbourne in July of that year. Throughout 1996, the radio services were expanded to cover Hobart and Canberra, while SBS TV's coverage was further expanded to include the New South Wales North Coast and the town of Albury.
Comedy Central's South Park, SBS's most successful imported television series, was first aired in 1997. A time-delay system was installed for South Australia in May 1999, shortly before the establishment of the Transmission Services division (intended to manage transmission and self-help services). A New Media division, responsible for the SBS website, was established at the start of 2000 in time for the first webcast of the Australian Film Institute Awards. Ratings continued to increase through 2000 to 2001 – increasing to an overall 5.2% average weekly audience share.[21]
In April 2003, SBS Radio dropped four languages from its schedule, Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, and Belarusian, and added four others, Amharic, Nepalese, Malay, and Somali, while increasing the broadcast hours for Cantonese, Mandarin, and Arabic. SBS broadcast the 2004 Athens Olympics in partnership with the Seven Network. and also broadcast Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.
Tagalog, Vietnamese and Arabic language broadcasts were added to SBS's WorldWatch television schedule in 2003.[22] However, the Vietnamese community protested the Vietnamese-language service, which was just taken from VTV4, Vietnam's government-controlled national broadcaster. They found the portrayal of the communist Vietnamese flag and Ho Chi Minh offensive and stated that the program's lack of reporting on political arrests and religious oppression was also offensive, especially to those who had fled the country following the Vietnam War.[23] This backlash prompted SBS to remove the bulletin from schedule and from then on to display disclaimers before all externally produced bulletins in order to distance it from the content.
In May 2008, SBS unveiled a new-look logo as well as a new backronymic slogan: "Six Billion Stories and counting".[24]
On 8 May 2012, SBS received $158 million in government funding,[25] of which $15 million would be used yearly, to fund the formation of a new free-to-air channel devoted to the indigenous peoples of Australia.[26] which would replace the existing National Indigenous Television on 12 December 2012, with 90% of its staff transferring to this new channel.[27] On 12 December 2012, NITV was re-launched as an SBS-operated free-to-air channel, replacing SBS4.[28]
SBS is a supporter of same-sex marriage[29] and pulled an anti-same-sex marriage advertisement ahead of its telecast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.[30] Then managing director, Michael Ebeid, defended SBS's position on the issue.[29]
On 17 November 2015, the new food channel, SBS Food Network, was launched. On 17 November 2018, the channel became SBS Food.
In June 2016, SBS announced that SBS 2 was set to be rebranded as SBS Viceland with content from US-Canadian youth Vice Media from November 2016.[31]
On 1 July 2019, SBS relaunched their former pay-TV movie channel, World Movies as SBS World Movies and it became a free-to-air channel.
On 12 January 2022, SBS announced that a sixth free-to-air television channel, with the working title SBS WorldWatch, would be launched in 2022. The channel would be free to air and would broadcast all foreign-language bulletins currently broadcast on SBS and SBS Viceland, and new locally-produced news bulletins in Arabic and Mandarin Chinese in prime time. The Arabic and Mandarin bulletins launched on February 15, 2022 through SBS On Demand, while the official trailer for the SBS WorldWatch channel was released six days later, which announced the launch date of 23 May.[32][33]
Services
Television
Regardless of state or territory, SBS television services always use the callsign "SBS". On 14 December 2006, SBS announced its intention to change to 720p as its high-definition transmission standard for SBS HD.[34] SBS had previously down converted its scheduled SBS high-definition content to the 576p standard. On 5 June 2012, SBS upgraded its HD format from 720p to 1080i.[35]
| LCN | Service | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | SBS | Formerly known as SBS ONE. Original analogue channel (simulcast until last ASO) |
| 30 | SBS HD | 1080i simulcast of SBS |
| 31 | SBS Viceland HD | Young Demographic, formerly known as SBS TWO. HD only |
| 32 | SBS World Movies | Dedicated movie channel for Australian & international movies. HD only |
| 33 | SBS Food | Food and cooking channel, formerly known as SBS Food Network |
| 34 | NITV | National Indigenous Television |
| 35 | SBS WorldWatch | A dedicated free-to-air television channel delivering multilingual local news bulletins in more than 30 languages as well as two local bulletins in Mandarin and Arabic.[36] |
On 1 June 2006, the SBS managing director, Shaun Brown, announced the corporation's desire to initiate in-show commercial breaks, in the same manner as the commercial television networks. He said that the move would raise $10 million in the first year, as he believes that SBS's current strategy of showing ads between programs "is unpopular with viewers". "On average we lose more than half our audience during these breaks – this is 30 percent more than other broadcasters", claimed Brown upon announcing the new move.[37]
SBS's commercial breaks remained at their existing statutory limit of five minutes per hour, as opposed to the fifteen minutes per hour permitted on Australia's fully commercial stations. An individual break lasted between one and two minutes. A related change was the launch of a one-hour 6:30 pm edition of World News, replacing the half-hour World News Australia and World Sport programs. In-show advertising commenced on 9 October 2006 during the 7.30 pm broadcast of MythBusters.
Former SBS television services are SBS Essential (LCN 31, sporting events, and other digital-only projects, when available) and SBS World News Channel (LCN 32, foreign news service).
Subscription channels
In 1995, SBS launched a new division called SBS Subscription TV. In October 1995, the first subscription channel to launch was World Movies; the channel focuses on independent international films. It was closed on 31 January 2018 but relaunched on free-to-air television on 1 July 2019. In April 2010, SBS launched Studio (previously marketed at as STVDIO); that channel focused on arts programming such as classical and popular music, literature, film, visual arts and dance with documentaries and performances. However, Studio closed down on 27 March 2015 and was replaced by Foxtel Arts.
Radio
SBS Radio broadcasts in 74 languages in all Australian states, producing an estimated 13,500 hours of Australian programming for its two frequencies in Sydney and Melbourne as well as for its national network. Much like SBS TV, SBS radio receives funding from a mix of government grants, paid-for government information campaigns and commercial advertising.[38] SBS Radio broadcast the UEFA Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.
Following "extensive community consultation" in 2003, SBS introduced a range of new programs, including services in Malay, Somali and Amharic – in addition to the expansion of many existing programs.[38]
In April 2013, SBS rolled out a major overhaul of its radio schedule. The last major review of the SBS Radio schedule had taken place in 1994, and since then Australia's demographics had changed significantly. With the new schedule SBS intends to better reflect Australia's ethnic composition. With the addition of six new languages: Malayalam, Dinka, Hmong, Pashto, Swahili and Tigrinya, SBS has brought the total number of languages from 68 to 74.[39][40]
SBS rolled out a trial of RDS (Radio Data System) in the Melbourne and Sydney broadcast areas in November 2012. Radio listeners can identify the SBS Radio service by the "SBSRadio" identifier and, if their radio permits, by RDS scrolling text on their FM-capable RDS radio.
NOW and NEXT data was progressively added to all radio services in 2012 and 2013. This now/next data is displayed on FM RDS Radio (Melbourne/Sydney) and DAB+ receptions areas for radios that can display metadata.
NOW and NEXT Radio schedule is also displayed on free-to-air Terrestrial Digital Television (DTV) program guides and on TiVo and TBox where applicable.
SBS rolled out the 14-day rolling radio schedule over DTV television in November 2012. A radio event (or program) can be viewed and booked/recorded to PVR or the listener reminded. The schedule adapts to daylight saving changes as required.
Following the Language Services Review in 2021, SBS re-introduced a range of new and existing programs in revised languages in November 2022.
| Service | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Analogue with digital simulcast | SBS Radio 1 | Original SBS Radio 1 broadcasts (usually on VHF band II)[a] |
| SBS Radio 2 | Original SBS Radio 2 broadcasts (usually on MF)[a] | |
| Digital only | SBS Radio 3 | Commenced April 2013. Radio 3 broadcasts the best of the BBC World Service and SBS Special events coverage including the 2014 FIFA World Cup |
| SBS Chill | SBS Chill "provides a music break from the stress of work, the rush that is daily life and all the complexities of your world". | |
| SBS Arabic24 | Arabic-language programming 24 hours a day. | |
| SBS PopAsia | Asian pop music in Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean and more. | |
| SBS PopDesi | Bollywood, Bhangra and Desi pop music. |
Other
On demand
SBS on Demand is a video on demand and catch up TV service run by SBS. In April 2016, SBS launched a video on demand application called "SBS On Demand VR" (later renamed "SBS VR").
Multilingual services
SBS has been providing multilingual services since 1975. Alongside news and radio, the SBS in-language units in both Sydney and Melbourne, provide a range of language services for medium to large organisations, private and government businesses. These include accredited translations, typesetting, voiceovers/re-narration, subtitling and video services in over 68 languages.
SBS independent
SBS independent (SBSi) was the primary production unit of SBS programming, which existed from August 1994 to December 2007. At the end of 2007, SBS independent was merged with the SBS Content and Online Division.
Youth orchestra
The SBS Youth Orchestra was an Australian premier youth orchestra, founded in 1988 by the now late Matthew Krel. It was disbanded in 2013.
SBS Sexuality
An online platform that celebrates "the diversity of sexuality in Australia and its multicultural communities".[41]
Film distribution
SBS used to distribute films in the early 1990s. In 2014, SBS revived its film distribution division as SBS Movies, which then teamed up with SBS' home video distributor Madman Entertainment. Both SBS and Madman released the 2016 American film Hell or High Water in Oceania.
Corporation
Board
- Chair
- Grisha Sklovsky AM (1978–1981)[42]
- Sir Nicholas Shehadie AC OBE (1981–1999)
- Carla Zampatti AC (1999–2009)
- Joseph Skrzynski AO (2009–2014)[43]
- Nihal Gupta (2014–2016)[44][45]
- Bulent Hass Dellal AO (2017–2020)[46]
- George Savvides AM (2020–present)[47]
- Managing director
- Ron Fowell (1978–1985)
- Ron Brown (1985–1987)[48]
- Brian Johns (1987–1992)[48]
- Malcolm Long (1993–1997)[49]
- Nigel Milan (1997–2005)[50]
- Shaun Brown (2005–2011)
- Michael Ebeid (2011–2018)[51]
- James Taylor (2018–present)[52]
- Current board members
- George Savvides
- Sally Walker
- Daryl Karp
- William Lenehan
- Dorothy (Dot) West
- Peeyush Gupta
See also
Notes
References
- ^ Jolly, Rhonda (28 March 2007). Special Broadcasting Service (SBS): Operations and funding (Report). Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ^ SBS: Frequently Asked Questions 8 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine SBS Corporation, accessed 26 May 2007
- ^ 1978 - SBS set up to air multilingual programs and information 6 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Multicultural History of Australia. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^ a b c Brief History of SBS 24 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Multicultural Australia. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ^ "Ethnic radio body plan". The Canberra Times. 14 October 1977. from the original on 2 May 2018.
- ^ The Broadcasting and Television Amendment Act 1977 "Broadcasting and Television Amendment Act 1977". from the original on 8 April 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
- ^ "Call to postpone ethnic service". The Canberra Times. 18 October 1978. from the original on 8 April 2018.
- ^ Hawkins, Gay (University of New South Wales) and Ien Ang (University of Western Sydney), "Inventing SBS: Televising the Foreign," 13 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine 2007, ACH: The Journal of the History of Culture in Australia, 26: 1-14, Taylor & Francis, Australia.
- ^ a b c . Special Broadcasting Service. n.d. Archived from the original on 18 May 2005. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ "Viewers switch on to Network 28". The Canberra Times. Vol. 58, no. 17, 555. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 22 October 1983. p. 3. Retrieved 3 July 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "TIMESTYLE". The Canberra Times. Vol. 58, no. 17, 584. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 20 November 1983. p. 14 (SUNDAY EDITION). Retrieved 3 July 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Australia. Special Broadcasting Service. (1980), "SBS Television – Presentation", Annual Report of the Special Broadcasting Service., Parliamentary paper (Australia. Parliament), Sydney [N.S.W.]: S.B.S (1983/1984, PP no. 10 of 1985), ISSN 0158-5339, nla.obj-2038253296, retrieved 21 October 2021 – via Trove
- ^ The History of Australian Television: SBS Television 8 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 22 May 2007
- ^ "Protest against ABC-SBS". The Canberra Times. Vol. 61, no. 18, 778. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 3 March 1987. p. 7. Retrieved 3 July 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Government abandons SBS-ABC merger". The Canberra Times. Vol. 61, no. 18, 833. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 27 April 1987. p. 1. Retrieved 3 July 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "SBS youth orchestra plan". The Australian Jewish Times. Vol. 94, no. 4. New South Wales, Australia. 30 September 1988. p. 24. Retrieved 3 July 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Still some spark in SBS". The Canberra Times. Vol. 63, no. 19, 494. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 20 February 1989. p. 25. Retrieved 3 July 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Special Broadcasting Service Corporation. (1992), "Audience", Annual Report, Parliamentary paper (Australia. Parliament), Canberra: Australian Govt. Pub. Service (1991/1992, PP no. 373 of 1992), ISSN 1038-6696, nla.obj-2168777670, retrieved 21 October 2021 – via Trove
- ^ Special Broadcasting Service Corporation. (1992), Annual report, Parliamentary paper (Australia. Parliament), Canberra: Australian Govt. Pub. Service, ISSN 1038-6696, nla.obj-1681855061, retrieved 21 October 2021 – via Trove
- ^ Special Broadcasting Service Corporation. (1992), Annual report, Parliamentary paper (Australia. Parliament), Canberra: Australian Govt. Pub. Service, ISSN 1038-6696, nla.obj-1186376929, retrieved 21 October 2021 – via Trove
- ^ SBS: History 2 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine SBS Corporation, accessed 26 May 2007
- ^ . Special Broadcasting Service. Archived from the original on 2 March 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
- ^ "Crunch time for SBS over Vietnamese news bulletin". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 December 2003. from the original on 24 January 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
- ^ SBS: Six Billion Stories and counting 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine SBS Corporation, accessed 8 May 2008
- ^ "$158m funding boost for SBS". TV Tonight. from the original on 11 May 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
- ^ "New Indigenous TV channel for SBS". TV Tonight. from the original on 7 June 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
- ^ "SBS – but wait there's more..." TV Tonight. from the original on 13 May 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
- ^ "NITV: Launch Day". TV Tonight. from the original on 7 December 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
- ^ a b Knott, Matthew (20 October 2015). "Senators accuse SBS of campaigning against Australian law by supporting same-sex marriage". The Age. from the original on 21 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ "Anti-marriage equality ad pulled from SBS TV". News Ltd. 9 March 2015. from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ "Viceland to replace SBS 2". tvtonight.com.au. 23 June 2016. from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
- ^ Quinn, Karl. "Australian news in Mandarin and Arabic? It's about to hit free-to-air TV thanks to SBS". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ Song, Darcy (22 May 2022). "SBS launches free-to-air multilingual news channel, SBS WorldWatch". Mumbrella. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ . Digital Broadcasting Australia. dba.org.au. 14 December 2006. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2006.
- ^ "SBS upgrades HD to 1080i format on 5 June 2012". sbs.com.au. from the original on 24 October 2012.
- ^ Samios, Zoe (21 November 2021). "SBS to launch free-to-air news channel aimed at Mandarin, Arabic speakers". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ Murray, Lisa (2 June 2006). "SBS caves in over ad breaks". The Sydney Morning Herald. from the original on 15 January 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2007.
- ^ a b About SBS Radio 9 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ New SBS Radio Schedule has launched 26 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 14 September 2013
- ^ SBS Announces New Radio Schedule For 2013 31 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 14 September 2013
- ^ "SBS Sexuality | Home". SBS Sexuality. from the original on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
- ^ "Sklovsky, Grigorij Abramovitch (1915 - 1995)". Encyclopedia of Australian Science. from the original on 31 December 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
- ^ "New SBS Chair appointed" (Media Release). Special Broadcasting Service. 6 November 2009. from the original on 14 February 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
- ^ "Nihal Gupta named new SBS chairman". SBS News. 17 October 2014. from the original on 14 February 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
- ^ White, Dominic (10 February 2016). "SBS chair Gupta in sudden exit". The Sydney Morning Herald. from the original on 14 February 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
- ^ "Government announces new SBS board chairman". SBS News. 14 February 2017. from the original on 14 February 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
- ^ "George Savvides announced as new SBS chair". Mumbrella. 9 July 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
- ^ a b (PDF), 1997, archived from the original on 24 March 2012
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ , archived from the original on 26 January 2014,
From 1993–97 he was Managing Director of SBS Corporation
- ^ . The Age. Fairfax Media. 5 August 2005. Archived from the original on 11 January 2007.
- ^ Ingram, David (21 April 2011), , archived from the original on 16 January 2013
- ^ SBS appoints James Taylor as new managing director, SBS News, 19 October 2018
External links
- Official website
- SBS In Language Service