SBS Food (formerly Food Network) is an 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 subscri ...

television channel owned and operated by the

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels (SBS (Australian TV chann ...

(SBS). The channel airs programs about food and cooking, from cultures around the world.

History

SBS first revealed it would launch a channel dedicated to food on 30 September 2015, following the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

's decision to not permit the public broadcaster to increase the amount of primetime advertising it is allowed to broadcast. It was Australia's first and at the time only free-to-air channel to be dedicated exclusively to food-related programming. It is broadcast 24 hours a day on channel 33, and all programs aired on the channel are also available to stream on SBS on Demand. The channel began broadcasting as Food Network on 17 November 2015 at 1 pm AEDST, replacing a simulcast of SBS. The channel initially operated under a license from Discovery Inc., the operator of the American channel of the same name. The relationship included a three year programming deal with Discovery which saw numerous American Food Network programs on the channel. The first programme shown on the channel was ''

30 Minute Meals ''30 Minute Meals'' is a Food Network television series hosted by Rachael Ray. Her first of four shows on Food Network, its original run aired from November 17, 2001, until May 5, 2012. The show specializes in convenience cooking for those wi ...

''. The channel was first included in the official OzTAM ratings on 1 December 2015, where it recorded a 1.3% primetime share. On 17 November 2018, the channel changed its name to SBS Food, following the ending of the Discovery Inc. deal, which saw Discovery's American shows (which had increasingly shifted from an instructional to a reality/competition-focused direction) pulled from the channel and replaced with more premium titles, including increased domestic Australian content. Discovery's food shows later shifted to a new free-to-air channel,

7food network 7food network was a short-lived Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Seven Network which launched on 1 December 2018. The channel marked the start of Seven's new deal with Discovery, Inc., immediately after the end of Special Br ...

, which began broadcasting on 1 December 2018. The move proved disastrous to Seven and Discovery, and after disappointing ratings, 7food network was shut down on 28 December 2019 and its programming dispersed among Seven's other channels, making SBS Food once again the only Australian free-to-air channel dedicated exclusively to food. SBS Food was converted into a MPEG-4 SD channel in December 2023.

Programming

Initially, the majority of SBS Food's programming had previously been aired either on SBS, ABC and on

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

Current programming

*''Adam and Poh's Great Australian Bites'' *'' Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown'' *'' The Chefs' Line'' *'' Come Dine with Me UK'' *'' The Cook and the Chef'' *'' Cook Like an Italian with Silvia Colloca'' *'' The Cook Up with Adam Liaw'' *'' Destination Flavour'' *'' ''Food Lovers' Guide To Australia'' *'' Fresh Friday Feasts'' *'' Khanh Ong's Wild Food'' *'' Mystery Diners'' *''

Nigella Bites Nigella Lucy Lawson (born 6 January 1960) is an English food writer and television cook. After graduating from Oxford, Lawson worked as a book reviewer and restaurant critic, later becoming the deputy literary editor of ''The Sunday Times'' in ...

'' *'' Nigella Express'' *'' Oliver's Twist'' *'' Plat du Tour'' *'' Poh & Co'' *'' Poh's Kitchen On The Road'' *'' River Cottage'' *'' The Streets with Dan Hong'' *''

Surfing the Menu ''Surfing the Menu'' is an Australian television cooking and lifestyle series on the ABC which aired between 2003 and 2006. The series follows features two chefs who follow their passions as they travel around Australia and New Zealand. The f ...

'' *''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs ...

'' *'' Marion Grasby's Endless Summer'' *'' Memory Bites with Matt Moran'' *'' Island Echoes with Nornie Bero''

Logo and identity history

File:Food Network (Australia) logo.svg, 17 November 2015 – 17 November 2018 File:SBS_Food_logo.svg, 17 November 2018 – present

References

External links