SaveOurSBS.org

Discover SBS Learn, home of free educational resources and a platform for teachers and students to share their work.

At SBS, we share the concerns of media organisations in Australia and around the world of any activity which has the potential to impact freedom of the press.

The ability of journalists to hold individuals and organisations to account, to scrutinise and bring to light matters in the public interest, is critical to any democracy and underpins the trust Australians have in our independent media.

We stand by our colleagues across the industry in continuing to defend the values of a free press.

James Taylor, SBS Managing Director, 7 June 2019

Save Our SBS – friends of SBS – joins all supporters and every friend of SBS in celebrating SBS radio, television, digital and online services. We are a not-for-profit association of ordinary people defending the original special purpose of SBS. DONATE here.

The economic reason to remove in-program advertising on SBS

Apart from ease of viewing, there are many reasons to shift advertising away from programs on SBS but until now, the economic benefits have not been explored. SBS aims to inspire “inclusivity and social cohesion.” That's what drives the broadcaster and this aim is articulated in its Corporate Plans, underpinned by its Charter. Despite SBS's aims, The Scanlon-Monash Index of Social Cohesion 2007‑2018 shows that social cohesion has been falling in… »

SBS World Movies channel a natural fit for SBS

SBS World Movies is virtually upon us. At least half the content will be in languages other than English. The World Movies channel will broadcast over 700 films each year. It truly will be a world of difference from that dished up by other channels. The new free-to-air channel commences on 1 July. So what's on? https://www.youtube.com/embed/jPpGmkAoh4w Loving Pablo (Spain), Rafiki (Kenya), Studio Ghibli (Japan) and Just A Breath Away (France) are among the titles to… »

New minister for SBS

The Hon Paul Fletcher MP is now Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts. He is the Member for Bradfield in Sydney. Fletcher is no newbie to communications having advised in policy development under former Senator, The Hon Richard Alston, then communications minister from 1996 to 2003 in the Howard Liberal government. ‘I am deeply honoured to be appointed as Minister for Communications, Cybersafety and the Arts’, said Fletcher, in a media release. In… »

SBS World Movies channel

SBS is launching an international movie channel. The new channel - SBS World Movies - will be on air from 1 July. At least half the content will be in languages other than English (LOTE) and that may increase over time. The channel will broadcast in HD. Save Our SBS President, Steve Aujard, said, “The World Movies channel comes about after the SBS Board of Directors considered a submission from Save Our SBS proposing a languages other than English TV channel. Our… »

Farewell Darce Cassidy

The first Secretary of Save Our SBS, Darce Cassidy (pictured), died this week. 'Darce' as he was affectionately known, was instrumental in transforming Save Our SBS from an unincorporated club to an incorporated association; this enabled Save Our SBS to operate as a legal entity. Darce first became known to Save Our SBS in August 2007, when he wrote a lengthy comment about the impact of advertising on SBS. Six months later and having made personal contact, Darce took up the… »

New TV channel proposed with more foreign language content and commercially less intrusive than current SBS channels

The Directors on the SBS Board have been asked to consider a new, different type of TV channel. The new channel - proposed in a submission by Save Our SBS to the SBS Board - is for a free-to-air television channel scheduling programs predominately in languages other than English - LOTE TV - with programs subtitled in English. The submission, which was driven by community views and published evidence from reputable sources including separate studies of four different… »

Budget for SBS not brilliant

SBS has not fared well in this year's Budget. Over the next three years, SBS will receive an average of $295 million per year which includes almost $29.6 million over the period to "guarantee the ongoing quality of its television, radio and online services", according to a statement issued by the Communications Minister, Senator Mitch Fifield . This is a far cry from the boost in funding that SBS sought to commission more Australian content. Only two percent of… »

SBS & friends say ‘fully-fund Australian content on SBS’ senate committee told

This year, the Senate’s communications committee has been inquiring into the economic and cultural value of Australian content on our media services. Written submissions to the committee from SBS and Save Our SBS put the case for set quotas of Australian content saying it ought to be fully-funded. Save Our SBS argued that if content were fully-funded, there would be no point in SBS carrying advertisements. To stay faithful to its Charter, Save Our SBS said that SBS… »

SBS appoints new MD

James Taylor is the new Managing Director of SBS. Mr Taylor (pictured) has been working at SBS for the past six years as its Chief Financial Officer and filled the position of Acting Managing Director after the unexpected departure of former MD Michael Ebeid. "We have already met James and look forward to working with him in the future" said Save Our SBS president, Steve Aujard. Save Our SBS welcomes Mr Taylor to his new role. SBS chairman Dr Bulent Hass Dellal… »

Save Our SBS – friends of SBS – joins all supporters and every friend of SBS in celebrating SBS radio, television, digital and online services. We are a not-for-profit association and defend the original special purpose of SBS. We advocate greater public funding for SBS, value multilingual & multicultural programs, and treasure the diverse culturally rich service intended for SBS – without in-program commercial breaks.

When the 1991 Parliament incorporated the phrase “natural program breaks” into the SBS Act it intended the placement of advertising on SBS television would not disrupt programs, that SBS not present itself like a commercial broadcaster and that “natural program breaks” would be restricted to:-

Mr SMITH Liberal half-time in a soccer match … in effect what will happen is that advertising will top and tail programs
Sen ALSTON Liberal natural program breaks, one would think that it is not too difficult to identify … clearly the half-time break in football and other sporting programs is a fairly common occurrence. The topping and tailing of programs so that good quality films are not massacred by advertisements is something that most people will readily identify with and recognise the breach of very quickly
Sen COLLINS Labor natural program breaks will be so unobtrusive on audiences as to be almost undetectable
Mr LEE Labor advertisement–at the beginning and the end of the sponsored program. In that way the viewers were not disturbed and were not constantly interrupted, as is the case on some of the commercial television programs
Mr SINCLAIR National let us not try to get the advertising revenue that will make the SBS another commercial channel. If we do, again, that will change its character, and I do not think that is really what we are about