SBS (Australian TV channel)
SBS is a multicultural public TV network in Australia. Launched on 24 October 1980, it is the responsibility of SBS's television division, and is available nationally. In 2024, SBS had a 9.3% audience share, compared to 2023 when SBS had an 8.5% audience share.
Channel 3 was launched in Australia on 24 October 1980 on CHN-3 in Sydney and AGV-3 in Melbourne and was renamed as SBS on 18 February 1985 and changed to STN-3 in Sydney, the station became STN-3 in Sydney on 18 February 1985. VTQ-3 in Brisbane and ATS-3 in Adelaide were launched on 30 June 1985 while WTW-3 in Perth was launched on 16 March 1986. On 1 January 2001, SBS commenced digital TV on VHF Channel 7. SBS HD launched in high-definition on 14 December 2006.
Channel 3 began broadcasting in Australia, it was first broadcast on 24 October 1980 on CHN-3 in Sydney and AGV-3 in Melbourne to became STN-3 in Sydney on 18 February 1985 and rebranded as SBS. VTQ-3 in Brisbane and ATS-3 in Adelaide were introduced on 30 June 1985 while WTW-3 in Perth started broadcasting on 16 March 1986.
As of 2025, the SBS is the fifth-rated television network and primary channel in Australia, behind the Seven Network, Nine Network, ABC TV and Network 10.
Broadcast
Channel 3 in Australia began its first broadcast on 24 October 1980 on CHN-3 in Sydney and AGV-3 in Melbourne before switched to STN-3 in Sydney on 18 February 1985 and changed the name to SBS. VTQ-3 in Brisbane and ATS-3 in Adelaide which began on 30 June 1985 while WTW-3 in Perth arrived on 16 March 1986.History
Origins
SBS began test transmissions in April 1979 as SBS Ethnic Television when it showed various foreign language programs on ABV-2 Melbourne and ABN-2 Sydney on Sunday mornings. Full-time transmission began at on 24 October 1980 as Channel 0/28. At the time, SBS was broadcasting on UHF Channel 28 and VHF Channel 0. Bruce Gyngell, who introduced television to Australia back in 1956, was given the task of introducing the first batch of programs on the new station. The first program shown was a documentary on multiculturalism entitled Who Are We? which was hosted, produced and directed by well-known Australian journalist Peter Luck.When transmission began for the night, the opening announcement would be as follows with "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Aaron Copland playing in the background:
"Welcome to Channel 0/28 Multicultural Television, Sydney and Melbourne. A section of the Special Broadcasting Service, transmitting on VHF Channel 0 with a vision carrier frequency of 46.25MHz and on UHF Channel 28 with a vision carrier frequency of 527.25MHz. As well as from the Hyatt Kingsgate Tower in Kings Cross, Sydney, on UHF Channel 54 with a vision carrier frequency of 737.25MHz."
Gyngell opened the channel by believing that the network's main target were, on equal footing, ethnic communities and monolingual Anglo-Saxon Australians, with a gradual understanding between the groups, as well as the promise of changing viewing habits of Australians. In 1981, a study surveyed that Channel 0-28 was the first viewing choice of viewers in Sydney and Melbourne, followed by 25% of Australians more than once a week, per a new survey in January 1982. About 98% of each ethnic group watched the relevant language-specific programming. Gyngell left SBS in late 1982 and the channel was starting to be plagued by repeats.
1980s to the 1990s
On 14 October 1983, the service expanded into Canberra on UHF28, Cooma and Goulburn on UHF58 and at the same time changed its name to Network 0–28. Its new slogan was the long-running "Bringing the World Back Home".On 18 February 1985, the station changed its name to SBS and began daytime transmissions from 11am to 2pm, while pushing back the starting time of the evening transmissions to 5:30pm. In June that year, SBS expanded to Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Gold Coast. On 5 January 1986 SBS ceased broadcasting on the VHF0 frequency. Although many Australians at the time did not have UHF antennas, SBS's VHF license had already been extended by a year at this stage and not all antennas had worked well with the low-frequency Channel 0 either. Following this, on 16 March 1986, SBS commenced transmission in Perth, Mount Gambier, Loxton-Renmark, Port Pirie, Broken Hill, Toowoomba, Townsville, Bendigo, Ballarat, Traralgon and Hobart. Darwin was the last capital city to receive the channel, with a local signal launched on 20 May 1994. Other cities that have launched the channel on, between and beyond those days included Maryborough/Wide Bay–Burnett, Rockhampton, Mackay, Katherine, Cairns, Bunbury, Albany, Kalgoorlie, Esperance, Geraldton, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Mount Isa, Orange, Griffith, Mildura, Swan Hill, Wagga Wagga, Albury-Wodonga, Coffs Harbour, Lismore, Tamworth and Taree. Shepparton was the last city to launch SBS in November 2001.
Although SBS Television commenced transmissions as a non-commercial television network, in 1991 it began accepting and broadcasting television advertisements. These were shown between programs, rather than having them interrupt programs.
2000s
In 2001, digital terrestrial television was introduced with transmissions available to most of SBS Television's coverage area on 1 January 2001, this was soon followed by the gradual introduction of widescreen programming.The hosts of The Movie Show, David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz, moved to the ABC in April 2004 to host a new program called At the Movies. The Movie Show continued with four new hosts, which included Megan Spencer, Jaimie Leonarder, Fenella Kernebone and Marc Fennell. The final episode of The Movie Show aired in June 2006, after the show was axed. The same month, SBS announced it would start showing advertisements during programs, unlike the previous practice in which advertisements were only shown in between programs. In May 2007, The Movie Show returned with a new interactive ten-minute format, presented by Lisa Hensley and Michael Adams.
On 1 June 2009, SBS TV was renamed SBS One to coincide with the launch of its new sister channel SBS Two, which would carry programming geared towards younger audiences.
2010s
As of 10 December 2013, SBS ceased analogue television broadcasts and is now only available through digital TV or digital set-top box.On 27 March 2014, SBS and SBS Two stopped broadcasting Weatherwatch Overnight, an overnight filler program providing national and international weather information with live video feeds of various cities around the world provided by EarthTV. Subsequently, both channels now broadcast 24/7. On 4 July 2015, SBS One changed its name back to SBS TV.
SBS launched a new channel focusing on both local and international food programming on 17 November 2015. The channel, called SBS Food, is available on free to air channel 33.
On 15 November 2016, SBS rebranded their sister station SBS 2 to SBS Viceland with content from US-Canadian broadcaster Vice Media after signing a deal with Vice Media on 23 June 2016.
On 1 July 2019, SBS World Movies started transmission on Channel 32, replacing the Standard Definition broadcast of SBS Viceland as it moved to Channel 31 in HD, SBS World Movies became the third multichannel, alongside SBS, SBS Viceland and SBS Food.
2020s
On 23 May 2022, SBS launched their fourth multichannel SBS WorldWatch, which would have all the previously aired non-English news bulletins from the World Watch programming block aired alongside their own locally produced bulletins in both Arabic and Mandarin, it is available on free to air channel 35.Leading up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, SBS spent $20 million in order to acquire the exclusive rights to broadcast the competition.
Programming
SBS is required by charter to meet certain programming obligations. Although it has a strong focus on international news and current affairs, it also presents documentaries and educational programs, drama, comedy, films and sport. SBS devotes a significant part of its morning television schedule to news bulletins in languages other than English as well as showing many subtitled, foreign-language films. Its own news and current affairs aim to have a higher concentration on international affairs than the ABC or the commercial networks. It also shows many documentaries and current-affairs programs, while its sports coverage has a strong focus on international sports.SBS's drama line-up mostly consists of imported content. International productions shown include Inspector Rex, Unit One, Funland, Shameless, Medici and ZeroZeroZero. Recent locally produced programs have included Kick, or East West 101.
Comedy on SBS has included locally produced shows 'SBS Monday comedy slot) but also foreign series such as The Ricky Gervais Show, Skins, bro'Town, South Park, Corner Gas, Nighty Night and Queer as Folk. The channel has presented flagship comedy shows, which include Pizza, Newstopia, Life Support, John Safran, Swift and Shift Couriers, Bogan Pride, in addition to reality television series, Nerds FC, or Song for the Socceroos. As well as this, anime from Japan also aired on SBS, with programs including Neon Genesis Evangelion, Samurai Champloo and the Studio Ghibli movies, as well as several cult movies. Dadı, the Turkish version of the American sitcom The Nanny was shown on SBS, as were numerous sitcoms, soap operas, drama series and movies in languages other than English, including Mexican and Brazilian telenovelas and Bollywood movies. Such programming is subtitled in English, but very little such content is now shown on the station; it has been replaced by largely English-language programming.
The remainder of SBS's schedule consists of English-language lifestyle, music, game and talk shows. These include Iron Chef, RocKwiz, The Movie Show, MythBusters, Top Gear, Global Village, Top Gear Australia, The Food Lovers' Guide to Australia, Food Safari, Remote Area Nurse, Mum's the Word, HELP, Vasili's Garden, Lonely Planet: Six Degrees, Salam Cafe, Inside Australia, Storyline Australia, First Australians, The Nest, My Voice, Oz Concert, the Eurovision Song Contest. In addition to foreign language film show SBS Film which include the best of international films is also available from The World Movies Channel as aired. Late at night, when there is no scheduled programming, SBS usually broadcasts a Weatherwatch program which shows a weather map of Australia. In late 2005, the program was updated to feature weather information from cities around the world, along with a short clip of selected cities.
Since the late 1980s, SBS has screened the 1960s German-made comedy sketch Dinner for One every New Year's Eve, emulating an annual European TV tradition.
Between 1989 and 2006, the narrator for SBS was Robbie McGregor. The current narrator is Lani John Tupu.