SBS is a national

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid ...

in Australia. Launched on 24 October 1980, it is the responsibility of SBS's television division, and is available nationally. In 2018, SBS had a 7.7% audience share. As of 2022, SBS is the lowest-rated television network in Australia, behind the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

, the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

, ABC TV and

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

History

Origins

SBS began test transmissions in April 1979 as ''SBS Ethnic Television'' when it showed various foreign language programs on

ABV-2 ABV is the name of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television station in Melbourne, Victoria. History The station began broadcasting on 19 November 1956 and is transmitted throughout the state via a network of relay transmitters. AB ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

and

ABN-2 ABN is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television station in Sydney. The station began broadcasting on 5 November 1956. Its original studios were located in Gore Hill and were in use up until March 2004, when they were co-located w ...

Sydney on Sunday mornings. Full-time transmission began at on 24 October 1980 (

United Nations Day United Nations Day is an annual commemorative day, reflecting the official creation of the United Nations on 24 October 1945. In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations ...

) as Channel 0/28. At the time, SBS was broadcasting on UHF Channel 28 and VHF Channel 0.

Bruce Gyngell Bruce Gyngell AO (8 July 1929 – 7 September 2000) was an Australian television executive, active for more than 40 years in both Australian and UK television. Although Gyngell began his career in radio, in the 1950s he stepped into the arena o ...

, 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 The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

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 ''Fanfare for the Common Man'' is a musical work by the American composer Aaron Copland. It was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens and was inspired in part by a speech made earlier that year ...

" by

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

playing in the background:

"Welcome to Channel 0/28 Multicultural Television, Sydney and Melbourne. A section of the
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. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS Wor ...
, transmitting on VHF Channel 0 with a vision carrier frequency of 46.25 MHz 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 Kings Cross is an inner-city locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 2 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is bounded by the suburbs ...
, on UHF Channel 54 with a vision carrier frequency of 737.25MHz."

1980s to the 1990s

On 14 October 1983, the service expanded into

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

on UHF28,

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega with the Riverina. At the , Cooma had a ...

and

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...

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. In June, SBS expanded to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near w ...

and the Gold Coast. On 5 January 1986 SBS ceased broadcasting on the

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

0 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 Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital Ad ...

, Loxton- Renmark,

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South A ...

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It ...

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 ...

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban populat ...

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vi ...

Traralgon Traralgon ( ) is a town located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia and the most populous city of the City of Latrobe. The urban population of Traralgon at the was 26,907. It is the largest and fastes ...

and

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/ Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

. 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 Wide Bay–Burnett is a region of the Australian state of Queensland, located between north of the state capital, Brisbane. The area's population growth has exceeded the state average over the past 20 years, and it is forecast to grow to more ...

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of t ...

Mackay Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airpor ...

Katherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

, Bunbury, Albany,

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

, Esperance,

Geraldton Geraldton ( Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' A ...

Tennant Creek Tennant Creek ( wrm, Jurnkkurakurr) is town located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the seventh largest town in the Northern Territory, and is located on the Stuart Highway, just south of the intersection with the western termi ...

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, base ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, Griffith,

Mildura Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area h ...

Swan Hill Swan Hill is a city in the northwest of Victoria, Australia on the Murray Valley Highway and on the south bank of the Murray River, downstream from the junction of the Loddon River. At , Swan Hill had a population of 11,508. Indigenous Peo ...

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's ...

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – t ...

Wodonga Wodonga ( Waywurru: ''Wordonga'') is a city on the Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Wodonga LGA. Its population is approximately ...

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

, Lismore, Tamworth and

Taree Taree is a town on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. Taree and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then Taree has grown to a population of 26,381, and is the centre of a significant agricultural distr ...

Shepparton Shepparton () ( Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparto ...

was the last city to launch SBS in the late 1990s. Although

SBS Television 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. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS Wor ...

commenced transmissions as a non-commercial television network, in 1991 it began accepting and broadcasting television advertisements (a controversial move at the time). These were shown between programs, rather than having them interrupt programs.

2000s

In 2001,

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

was introduced with transmissions available to most of

's coverage area on 1 January 2001, this was soon followed by the gradual introduction of

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

programming. The hosts of ''

The Movie Show ''The Movie Show'' is an Australian film review program which was broadcast on SBS TV. Its history is divided into three parts, until it finally wound up in 2008. History The original format, which ran from 30 October 1986 to 12 May 2004, had ...

'',

David Stratton David James Stratton (born 10 September 1939) is an English-Australian award-winning film critic, as both a journalist and interviewer, film historian and lecturer and television personality and producer. Life and career Born in Trowbridge, ...

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 Megan Spencer (born 1966) is an Australian broadcaster, film critic, journalist, media maker, and teacher. Biography Spencer studied Speech pathology in Melbourne before pursuing interests in film and radio. In the 1980s, as a volunteer, she co- ...

Jaimie Leonarder Jaimie Leonarder (born 1958, Sydney) also known as Jay Katz is an Australian musician, archivist, social worker, film critic, radio announcer, and DJ. Biography Born and raised in Sydney, Leonarder attended Artarmon Public School and Crows-Nest B ...

Fenella Kernebone Fenella Kernebone (born 8 June 1976) is an Australian radio and television presenter, MC and interviewer, based in Sydney, with a long record working across the arts, film, music, design, architecture and culture. Her most recent hosting roles i ...

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 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 SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS ...

, 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 Viceland ended 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, SBS and SBS Viceland is now broadcast 24 hours a day 7 days a week. 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 SBS Food is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The channel airs programs about food and cooking, from cultures around the world. History SBS first revealed it would lau ...

(formerly Food Network due to the partnership with Discovery Inc.), is available on free to air channel 33. On 15 November 2016, SBS rebranded their sister station SBS 2 to

SBS Viceland SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS ...

with content from US-Canadian broadcaster

Vice Media Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. , the Vice Media Group included five main business areas: VICE.com (digital content); VICE STUDIOS (film and TV production) VICE TV (also known as VICELAND); ...

after signing a deal with Vice Media on 23 June 2016. On 1 July 2019,

SBS World Movies SBS World Movies is an Australian free-to-air television channel showing international movies. The channel features foreign language films, documentaries, independent and mainstream cinema and interviews with international movie stars. It w ...

started transmission on Channel 32, replacing the Standard Definition broadcast of Viceland, as Viceland moved to Channel 31 in HD, World Movies became the third multichannel, alongside SBS, Viceland and SBS Food.

2020s

On 23 May 2022, SBS has launched their own local news in both

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

and Mandarin on

SBS On Demand SBS is a national public television network in Australia. Launched on 24 October 1980, it is the responsibility of SBS's television division, and is available nationally. In 2018, SBS had a 7.7% audience share. As of 2022, SBS is the lowest ...

as they unveiled their fourth multichannel

SBS WorldWatch SBS WorldWatch is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The channel shows multilingual international news bulletins in more than 30 languages, as well as two local bulletins i ...

, which would have all the previously aired non-English news bulletins from the

World Watch ''World Watch'', or ''WorldWatch'', is a programming block on SBS, SBS Viceland and SBS WorldWatch in Australia that carries news bulletins from countries around the world. The World Watch service gives viewers the opportunity to see news bulle ...

programming block aired alongside. WorldWatch is available on free to air channel 35. Leading up to the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wor ...

, 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 ''Inspector Rex'' (German: ''Kommissar Rex''; Italian: ''Il commissario Rex'') is an Austrian-Italian police procedural comedy-drama television series created by Peter Hajek and Peter Moser. Originally an Austrian series aired from 1994 to 2004 on ...

'', '' Unit One'', '' Funland'', '' Shameless'', ''

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

'' and ''

ZeroZeroZero ''ZeroZeroZero'' is an Italian crime drama television series created by Stefano Sollima, Leonardo Fasoli and Mauricio Katz for Sky Atlantic, Canal+ and Amazon Prime Video. It is based on the book of the same name by Roberto Saviano, a study of ...

''. Recent locally produced programs have included ''

Kick A kick is a physical Strike (attack), strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee (strike), ...

'', or ''

East West 101 ''East West 101'' was a drama series airing on the SBS network. The series was produced and created by Steven Knapman and Kris Wyld, the team behind other drama series such as '' Wildside'' and ''White Collar Blue''. It ran from 2007–2011, ...

''. Comedy on SBS has included locally produced shows (''

SBS Monday comedy slot The SBS Monday comedy slot was part of the schedule of Australian state broadcaster SBS dedicated to off-beat, often offensive comedy programming, often produced by SBS itself and usually the highest rating night on SBS TV. Prior to 2013, progra ...

'') but also foreign series such as ''

The Ricky Gervais Show ''The Ricky Gervais Show'' is a comedy radio show in the UK starring Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington, later adapted into a podcast and a television series. Despite being named after the more famous Gervais, it mostly revol ...

'', '' Skins'', '' Bro' Town'', ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand ...

'' (until 2020), ''

Corner Gas ''Corner Gas'' is a Canadian television sitcom created by Brent Butt. The series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. Re-runs still air on CTV, CTV2, CTV Comedy Channel, Much, MTV, E! and are streaming on Crave and Amazon Prime. The seri ...

'', '' Nighty Night'' and ''

Queer as Folk ''Queer as Folk'' may refer to: * ''Queer as Folk'' (British TV series), 1999–2000 * ''Queer as Folk'' (American TV series), a 2000–2005 American and Canadian version of the UK series ** ''Queer as Folk'' soundtracks, soundtrack albums from ...

''. The channel has presented flagship comedy shows, which include ''

Pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, on ...

'', '' Newstopia'', ''

Life Support Life support comprises the treatments and techniques performed in an emergency in order to support life after the failure of one or more vital organs. Healthcare providers and emergency medical technicians are generally certified to perform basic ...

'', '' John Safran'', ''

Swift and Shift Couriers ''Swift and Shift Couriers'' is an Australian comedy television series that first screened on SBS TV in October 2008. The series is produced, directed and written by Paul Fenech, who was also responsible for the comedy series ''Pizza''. It is ...

'', '' Bogan Pride'', in addition to reality television series, ''

Nerds FC ''Nerds FC'' is an Australian television documentary featuring association football, football. The #Series 1, first series of the show was aired as a lead-in for the 2006 FIFA World Cup on the Special Broadcasting Service network that featured co ...

'', or Song for the Socceroos. As well as this,

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

from Japan also aired on SBS, with programs including ''

Neon Genesis Evangelion , also known simply as ''Evangelion'' or ''Eva'', is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax and animated by Tatsunoko, directed by Hideaki Anno and broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 1995 to March 1996. ''Evangelion ...

'', ''

Samurai Champloo is a 2004 Japanese historical adventure anime television series. The debut television production of studio Manglobe, the 26-episode series aired from May 2004 to March 2005. It was first partially broadcast on Fuji TV, then had a complete a ...

'' (as well as shows like ''

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 is an anime series produced by AIC. It is a reboot of the 1987 OVA series ''Bubblegum Crisis'', which focuses on the Knight Sabers, a rogue vigilante group made up of four women who use powered suits to fight rogue Boomer robots made by the me ...

'' and ''

Bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color (whitening) from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically, to ...

'' in the past) and the

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and h ...

movies, as well as several

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. Thi ...

movies. ''

Dadı ''Dadı'' is a Turkish remake of ''The Nanny'', one of the most successful sitcoms in the United States of the 1990s. The program is set in the wealthy neighborhood of Nişantaşı, Istanbul. It was broadcast to countries outside Turkey. Plot Mel ...

'', the Turkish version of the American sitcom ''

The Nanny ''The Nanny'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from November 3, 1993, to June 23, 1999, starring Fran Drescher as Fran Fine, a Jewish fashionista from Flushing, Queens, New York, who becomes the nanny of three ch ...

'' was shown on SBS, as were numerous sitcoms,

soap operas A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

, drama series and movies in languages other than English, including Mexican and Brazilian ''

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...

s'' and

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...

movies. Such programming is subtitled in English (such subtitling is typically applied by SBS itself via their inhouse subtitling department), 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 is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle bu ...

'', '' RocKwiz'', ''

'', ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internation ...

'', ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'' (2005–2009), '' Global Village'', ''

Top Gear Australia ''Top Gear Australia'' was an Australian motoring reality television series, based on the British BBC series '' Top Gear''. The programme first premiered on SBS One on 29 September 2008. A second season was ordered following the high ratings ...

'', '' The Food Lovers' Guide to Australia,

Food Safari ''Food Safari'' is an Australian television food series presented by Maeve O'Meara and produced by Kismet Productions in association with SBS TV Australia, and explores the cuisines brought to Australia by its immigrants. From seasons 1 to 4, eac ...

, '' Remote Area Nurse'', ''Mum's the Word'', ''HELP'', ''

Vasili's Garden ''Vasili's Garden'' is an Australian television gardening program. Hosted by Vasili Kanidiadis, each episode of the show, which is unscripted, focuses on the plants and produce from home gardens in Melbourne and surrounding areas, with emphasis o ...

'', '' Lonely Planet: Six Degrees'', ''

Salam Cafe ''Salam Cafe'' is an Australian comedy talk show. Produced by RMITV, and originally airing on Channel 31 from 31 April 2005 under the title ''Ramadan TV'', the show began a revamped ten-week run on the SBS from 7 May 2008. Hosted by Ahmed Imam ...

'', ''

Inside Australia Inside Australia is a weekly documentary series, produced and broadcast by the Special Broadcasting Service. It premiered at 7:00 pm on Sunday 12 October 2003. See also * List of Australian television series Future shows Seven * '' ...

'', ''

Storyline Australia ''Storyline Australia'' is a weekly documentary program, produced and broadcast by SBS TV. See also * List of Australian television series Future shows Seven * '' The 1% Club'' (Seven Network game show 2023–) * '' Apartment Rules ...

'', '' First Australians'', '' The Nest'', ''My Voice'', ''Oz Concert'', '' the ''

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

''. In addition to

foreign language film World cinema is a term in film theory that refers to films made outside of the American motion picture industry, particularly those in opposition to the aesthetics and values of commercial American cinema.Nagib, Lúcia. "Towards a positive de ...

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 ''Dinner for One'', also known as ''The 90th Birthday'' (german: link=no, Der 90. Geburtstag), is a two-hander comedy sketch, written by British author Lauri Wylie for the theatre. After featuring on the stage, the German TV broadcaster, Nordde ...

'' 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 Lani Tupu (born Auckland, New Zealand), billed variously as Larney Tupu, John Tupu and Lani John Tupu, is a New Zealand-born actor of Samoan and English descent. Also known as Lani Tupu Jr. Biography Tupu was born in 1955 to an English moth ...

News and current affairs

SBS has a range of news and current affairs programming, including its nightly, national, news service

SBS World News ''SBS World News'' is the news service of the Special Broadcasting Service in Australia. Its flagship nightly bulletin is broadcast at on SBS with additional weeknight 'late' bulletins from on SBS. ''SBS News'' is the name of the news app ...

, investigative programme ''

Dateline A dateline is a brief piece of text included in news articles that describes where and when the story was written or filed, though the date is often omitted. In the case of articles reprinted from wire services, the distributing organization i ...

'', discussion forum ''

Insight Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intui ...

'', indigenous affairs program ''

Living Black ''Living Black'' is a current affairs program aired on SBS, Australia, addressed primarily to the interests of Australia's indigenous community. Karla Grant has been executive producer of this program, which she developed, since 2002. She has al ...

'', in addition to its morning & afternoon ''

'' timeslot, featuring bulletins in languages other than English. Until early 2007, ''

Toyota World Sport ''Toyota World Sport'' was an Australian television sport news program. Airing on SBS at 7pm local time, the long-running show was axed in December 2006. The show aired at 7pm following SBS' 6.30 news (and repeated the following day at 4pm), ...

'' was shown on weeknights until it was axed to accommodate the relaunched, one-hour '' World News Australia'' (which is now ''SBS World News'') and

. It also broadcasts foreign language news on its second digital channel

, sometimes it provides additional information, highlights, and statistics for programmes shown on SBS, such as the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first ...

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

, and the Australian Football League Grand Final. SBS, along with its sister channel Viceland, are still airing English news bulletins from international news channels under the current ''World Watch'' block following the launch of

multilingual channel.

Sport

SBS Sport currently holds the broadcast rights to a range of sports, which are broadcast on SBS, SBS Viceland and SBS On Demand. They have held the rights to many sporting events over the years, which have included the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

, the

World Superbikes Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...

, the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

(every tournament since 1986; shared 2002 tournament with the

, 2018 with Optus Sport),

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

, the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

, the

UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

, the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, the American

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...

and the English Premier League. SBS has also produced and broadcast a range of sport related programming including ''

The World Game ''The World Game'' was an Australian football (soccer) television show broadcast on the SBS network, as well as a dedicated associated website. The show debuted in 2001 and was the only Australian TV programme dedicated to both football news ...

'' and the '' UEFA Champions League Magazine''. The telecast of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

in Beijing was shared by both the

and SBS, with the

holding exclusive Australian

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" ...

and

mobile telephony Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Telephony is supposed to specifically point to a voice-only service or connection, though sometimes the l ...

broadcast rights. SBS provided complementary coverage and focused on long-form events such as

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

, volleyball, and table tennis. In contrast, Seven broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies and mainstream sports including swimming, athletics,

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

, cycling and gymnastics.

Funding

Approximately 80% of SBS' funding comes from the

Australian Federal Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

. The rest comes from independent sources, including "advertising and sponsorship, production services and sale of programs and merchandise". In the

financial year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

2018-19 the broadcaster is slated to receive $272.4 million.

Availability

SBS is available on all of

's television transmitters in SD Digital. The channel's scheduling differs from state to state only during major sporting events, when the transmission times of other programmes may be altered. During the digital changeover between 2010 and 2013, SBS was also simulcast on Analogue. In 2010 SBS commenced Trial Broadcasts of the

in 3D on Channel 40.

SBS HD

The SBS HD multichannel was launched on 14 December 2006. It broadcasts identical programming to SBS, but in

1080i 1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the scree ...

HD via

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

and

Optus D1 This is a list of the satellites operated by Optus, an Australian telecommunications company. The satellite communications facility is located at Belrose on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Optus' satellites are divided into 4 classes A, B, C and D. As ...

. On 8 April 2017, alongside the launch of

SBS Viceland HD SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS ...

, SBS HD was upgraded to an

MPEG-4 MPEG-4 is a group of international standards for the compression of digital audio and visual data, multimedia systems, and file storage formats. It was originally introduced in late 1998 as a group of audio and video coding formats and related t ...

format, replacing the standard

MPEG-2 MPEG-2 (a.k.a. H.222/H.262 as was defined by the ITU) is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods, ...

format it had used since its inception.

SBS On Demand

SBS On Demand is a

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

and

catch up TV Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

service run by the Special Broadcasting Service. The service became available on 1 September 2011. SBS On Demand is available on the web and via apps for mobile devices, smart TVs and set-top boxes.

Logo and identity history

The first SBS logo was a gradiented blue and white globe surrounded by a gradiented blue and white ring. The logo was used across all of SBS's radio and television stations, and symbolised transmission on

channel 0. On 14 October 1983, Channel 0/28 was renamed Network 0–28, coinciding with a new logo featuring the new name underneath the globe. On 18 February 1985, Network 0–28 was renamed SBS TV, coinciding with a new logo featuring the letters SBS underneath the globe, however in 1989, the logo was again updated with the globe removed. A new SBS logo was launched in March 1993, featuring five blue curved splices, described as the "Mercator" logo (named as the shapes look like a mercator globe in 2D), with the letters SBS in white on top. The idents in 1995–2003 usually show the Mercator logo without the letters SBS. The five splices represented the continents of the world and the angle represented the tilt of the Earth's axis. The new logo and a major revamp was launched on 7 May 2008, reducing the number of splices into four, and shifting the perspective and angle so that each splice is larger than the last. The logo was modified on 1 June 2009 to coincide with the renaming of the channel to "SBS ONE". On 4 July 2015 SBS launched a modified version of its 2008 logo when its main channel changed its name back to 'SBS TV'. The "SBS ONE" name is still used on electronic program guides. File:SBS 1993.svg, March 1993 – 7 May 2008 File:Special Broadcasting Service logo.svg, 7 May 2008 – 31 May 2009 File:SBSOne Logo.svg, 1 June 2009 – 3 July 2015 File:SBS logo.svg, 4 July 2015 – 7 February 2019 File:SBS Australia Logo (2019).svg, 8 February 2019 – present

Identity history

*29 April – 22 July 1979: ''This is SBS, Ethnic Television''. ''(used for SBS TV's test transmissions)'' *February – May 1980: ''A Whole New Look at Television''. *24 October 1980 – 14 October 1983: ''Channel 0 – A Whole World of People/Entertainment''. *January 1982: ''Channel 0/28, Celebrating Australia Week 1982''. *14 October 1983 – 18 February 1985: ''Network 0–28 – Bringing the World Back Home''. *18 February 1985 – 1986: ''We're SBS – Bringing the World Back Home''. *1986–1988: ''Discover the Difference''. *1989–1996: ''Bringing the World Back Home''. *1998–2004: ''Your world is an amazing place'' *2005–2006: ''Nobody sees the world like SBS'' *2006–2008: ''There's more to Summer on SBS''. *7 May 2008 – 27 October 2011: ''Six Billion Stories and Counting''. *28 October 2011 – 13 June 2014: ''Seven Billion Stories and Counting''. *14 June 2014 – 3 July 2015: ''Join In'' *8 February 2019 – present: ''A World of Difference''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sbs tv Special Broadcasting Service English-language television stations in Australia Television channels and stations established in 1980 1980 establishments in Australia