SBS – too small to matter, too important to kill
Later this year, SBS will celebrate its 30th anniversary as full time TV service. Unless something changes, I doubt it will be around to celebrate a 40th.
Depending how you look at it, SBS either needs to get a lot bigger, or a lot smaller.
Last week saw a provocative call from Sydney Morning Herald opinion editor Tim Dick to close SBS and spend the $200m revenue on directly funding journalism instead.
And topically enough, Friday saw SBS boss Shaun Brown give his own speech in defence of SBS’s remit.
As he put it on Friday:
“SBS continues to balance its responsibility to meet the diverse communications needs of Australia’s multicultural community while informing, educating and entertaining all Australians.”
SBS’s stated purpose goes slightly further than that, adding: “and, in doing so, reflect Australia’s multicultural society”.
And Brown also inadvertently put his finger on the problem. In that same speech, he posed the question:
“Should SBS be proud that it first exposed the issue of attacks on Indian students and then provided on-going coverage of developments, including a full scale Insight televised debate?”
The issue with that, is that while SBS may have been onto the issue first, it didn’t reach a mainstream Australian consciousness until fellow public service broadcaster, the ABC stepped in with a Four Corners investigation last July. Until Brown’s comment’s I’d personally thought of this as an ABC-led issue.
Check out Google News for the volume of coverage on the issue. The conversation only ignited when propelled by the combination of events and the more widely reaching ABC.
Many people would simple have been unaware that SBS was onto it first. And that’s the problem. Not enough English-speaking Aussies are spending enough time with the channel. The part about informing all Australians about the multicultural society simply isn’t happening.
During the speech, Brown listed the programmes SBS does to reach that wider audience: dramas like The Circuit and East West 101 and documentaries like First Australians. I bet he’d have struggled to reel off another five equally impressive examples though.
And the lack of reach is getting worse.
Take a look at last week’s TV ratings figures from OzTam. Among younger Australians, SBS1 isn’t just the fifth channel now, it’s the sixth.
Last week, for instance, in the 16-39 demographic, SBS1 rated a 4.1% share. That was well behind the 5% scored by Nine’s second channel Go.
If Seven2 continues to grow, soon SBS1 will be the seventh. Then ABC3 and the soon-to-be-launched ABC news channel will probably come past and SBS1 will be the ninth.
Even if Ten’s sport channel One, doesn’t come past, we’ll probably see Nine and Seven launch another new digital channel each before the end of the year. It’s reasonably likely that there will be days that, among younger viewers, SBS will be only the 11th most watched channel.
Ironically, two of the three biggest audiences for Go last week were for Top Gear, which Nine outbid SBS for last year. Another reason for English-speaking Aussies to tune in and maybe be exposed to other SBS material has gone. At its present size, it doesn’t have the budgets to compete.
A big part of the issue now is that if SBS didn’t exist, you wouldn’t need to invent it. Certainly not if you take SBS remit as only one of informing the non English speaking community about what’s going on on other parts of the world. If you have access to good broadband, then rather than wait for the hour or two that it’s your language’s turn, you’ll stream it or read it online. So, as Brown said in his speech, the SBS needs to be about more than that, yet at the moment too much of its programming is simply rebroadcasting from elsewhere.
Which comes back to the case for making the broadcaster big enough to have a reach and an impact, which is what I think it needs. It needs shows that, yes, put up a mirror to Australian society, but also have a wider audience.
It needs to do something to attract that audience. In the UK, Big Brother lived on public service channel Channel 4. Not only did it prove to be an audience and ratings (like SBS, Channel 4 is ad-funded) driver, but it started as a brave broadcasting experiment. And it sparked some massive debates about racism in the UK too. If SBS is going to get bigger, it’ll need to do something similarly game-changing. If not (and probably not) Big Brother, then something similarly far-reaching.
SBS would never be able to afford what Ten paid for the Big Brother format (or indeed compete for it if Ten ever wanted it back on). But perhaps some kind of radical model like a revenue share with the format owner might be the way.
But that’s somewhat pie in the sky. But the point it, SBS can’t go on like it is. And I suspect that simply asking the government for more money is pie in the sky too.
And I’d argue against killing it. The ABC needs a second public service voice to keep it honest. If SBS wasn’t around, the ABC would probably need to be split.
With the arrival of multichannels, this is becoming urgent. By the time SBS’s birthday arrives in October, it will be critical.
Tim Burrowes
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Thx Tim – Great points here.
I watch SBS as my only source of TV news each day. There is something about the balance between local and overseas news. When compared to the other major stations, the SBS news appears to weigh the news items on global impact rather then what will keep ratings. This is important to me. Often I find the news items on common channels encouraging ignorance. I would find losing SBS very disconcerting.
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Well argued. Great piece. Well done.
I disagree. 🙂
I’d argue the hybrid model of multi-cultural programming and audience-grabbing English-language shows isn’t working. We have a broad-ranging, government-funded broadcasting service in the ABC which is much better equipped to deliver quality programming, independent news and current affairs and community communication services. It serves little purpose to have SBS as a competing service.
Take the SBS World News. I’ve always found the name ironic given it doesn’t have a single journalist permanently stationed anywhere else in the world. It’s nothing more than a collection of BBC and other world news clips supported by a sparse network of domestic reporters. Dateline is brilliant – but could be just as easily delivered by the ABC if it had more funding. There’s now services like the BBC, CNN, Al Jazaerra and others delivering world news into Australian homes – what’s the point of an aggregated SBS service? Why should government money be spent on the TV rights to the World Cup of football? Why should government money be spent on English-language drama, when the ABC is criticised for not delivering enough drama?
If SBS exists – and there’s a good argument for why it should – then let it exist as a genuine multi-cultural, languages-other-than-English broadcasting service. And nothing more.
You’re right, it has to get bigger or smaller. I’d argue very much for the latter.
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SBS is the finest TV channel Australia has to offer. Its lack of rating success is perhaps explained by too many Australians getting stuck to an “island complex” and have yet to embrace being part of a global community.
“During the speech, Brown listed the programmes SBS does to reach that wider audience: dramas like The Circuit and East West 101 and documentaries like First Australians. I bet he’d have struggled to reel off another five equally impressive examples though.”
Examples from Australia:
– World News, Insight, DateLine, Living Black, Food Safari, Wilfred.
Fine programs from abroad:
– Mythbusters, IronChef, Man vs. Wild, Entourage, Inspector Rex, Frontline documentaries, and the finest foreign films.
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As a true blue Australian male, I can only say that SBS is a wonderful asset which provides the bulk of my TV viewing content.
SBS provides a true international perspective. The ABC has largely become a regurgitator of BBC culture. What has happened to Australian content on the ABC?
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I’m largely in agreement with Mike Wolesley.
In many ways SBS has supported a more diverse array of local content than the ABC, particularly given its funding constraints. Shows like Food Safari, East West 101, RocKwiz, the Naked Lentil, Who Do You Think You Are?, Gourmet Farmer, and even Costa’s Garden Odyssey represent a broad variety of domestic content. Compare this to some of the ABC’s recent offerings such as East of Everything, Sleuth 101 and the disastrous ABC2 production of Bliss. And in terms of fostering public debate which more edifying – Insight or Q&A?
Bring on a bigger SBS.
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Tim
Maybe you should conduct some research and you will see that 7 Two, Go and ONE are actually taking share from 7, 9 and 10.
SBS is not just a multi-cultural channel, but a station that offers intelligent viewing, witty humour and a platform for Australian content.
If SBS audience numbers are so low, what does this say for the intelligence levels of mainstream Australians?
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“…and the finest foreign films”
Of the last few years, maybe.
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Glass half full; if there was no SBS I would gain a whole section of my lounge room back where the TV used to be.
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“Last week, for instance, in the 16-39 demographic, SBS1 rated a 4.1% share. That was well behind the 5% scored by Nine’s second channel Go.”
But the point is, we could easily remove Go and there would be no consequences across Australia’s media landscape at all. In fact, we’d probably be doing the viewers a favour.
Don’t we need to acknowledge that SBS took a chance on programs like Top Gear, Mad Men, Iron Chef, Flight of the Conchords , Food Safari, Insight, The Movie Show, Skins and so on. Also who else will show subtitled movies, late night anime, Champions League, Tour de France coverage, World Cup (pre bandwagon)…
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+1 for the immense contribution of SBS to quality TV. Plus the bosoms.
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In following up what Mike said about the ABC regurgitating the BBC, in my family we often joke about the seemingly endless stream of BBC material. My husband says the the ABC should be renamed the ABBC.
There appears to be a cabal of Anglophiles in the ABC. It might be cheaper to re-broadcast BBC content but ultimately it is selling out our culture. Local content on the commercial channels is mainly sport and ‘reality’ dross. Please leave us our SBS.
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SBS is unique – no other country gives such a service. Stop to think on that for a bit… I would argue a combination of things conspired: Advertising, the dumbing down of programming, govt cuts: it’s not that expensive, but the govt cuts, and underfunds it.
Digital channels should help. I absolutely agree that on-line news access has damaged the current model. We change the model!
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Supporting Jason Le here…
Mythbusters, Iron Chef (god i love iron chef), Rock Whiz, Man vs Wild,
I watch more SBS than I watch the big 3..
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it really baffles me that most people i hang around and talk to all rattle off an sbs program they watch regularly and like those above watch it more than they watch other stations. i can’t give you exact numbers, but it’s a pretty good representation. so why don’t ratings reflect that. i’m not talking big ratings, but it’d be a few more points than get now – who are they polling? i agree, why should you chase after dumbarses to watch your station when dumbarses don’t want that kind of programming ever anyway. i would leave australia if they ever did anything to sbs…insight is what q and a wants to be, they had a great program – top gear and it got ripped off them, thank christ they managed to hold on to the tour. and then there’s the people that most people forget in our whitebread comfortable lives the many people who can’t speak english and can’t stream the internet – e.g. the 80 year old nonna, the newly arrived immigrant who can’t afford the bandwidth…my french 34 year old mate who without fail watches the french news everyday as he too can’t stream. and stories don’t always come from journalism/docos. like the circuit, RAN, the foreign films….without these things, i couldn’t breathe in this country…a friend of mine moved over from england recently and can’t stand the main tv channels and what they offer as programming and how they manage to move their programs around all the time. SBS is the only thing he watches of mainstream tv – and maybe seinfeld on Go.
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Maybe with the rise of bitTorrent it’s not so important to have a FTA channel providing intelligent, entertaining foreign shows (by foreign, I mean mainly UK – Skins, Shameless, Mighty Boosh etc – and US – Mad Men, Big Love, Flight of the Conchords). But if you want someone to make SOME money out of these shows, you need a brand that people can turn to, confident there will be quality drama and comedy – not stock standard cr*p like the CSI franchise and the abysmal Two and a Half Men. For me, as a punter, that brand is SBS. This is regardless of their remit re: multiculturalism, which also brings in a lot more – both interesting and boring. Selfishly, as a viewer, I like the shows the English speaking shows they put on.
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Is it me or is this ”lets go wide augument a platform so more advertising can be inserted into SBS.?” pleeeeze leave SBS as it is, apart from the ABC ABBC.? which i adore, the other channels are utterly brain dead, Note to Tim Burrowes…if ”a wider reach” means dumbing SBS down in any way shape or form, i will come over to your place Tim and put your balls in a vice and let the dogs loose.! comprende amigo.? (I’m sure your a loverly man Timothy.?)
Commercial TV in Australia is so banal, so 1980’s, so backward, you see where this is headed. although, i would like to add that nine’s Today Show, their breakfast program is a case in point, what with its $2 set, bad lighting, terrible clothes on its presenters, who are they channelling there, Lowes.? pardon the pun, its blatant liberal bias, Commerical TV who the Fu#k wants or needs another station with ”a wider reach” if you want a wider reach for advertising Tim put up the augment for a digital advertising channel.
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I have dozens of Filipino and many Chinese friends, who religiously watch thier news from home rebroadcast here — my only complaints are that the image quality is generally poor and there are no english subtitles so I can watch along with them.
if SBS could work more closely with their overseas partners to improve those aspects, they would have a major winner with the multicultural community here — like the ABC’s international news arm, SBS2 could set up a live 24/7 feed with a local introduction from overseas networks in multiple languages, which along with their regular World News, would provide unrivalled news coverage.
with SBS1, I find it frustrating that on many nights of the week, there is nothing watchable outside the news — some nights have good docos, culinary and wildlife shows; however, not being a sport & trash lover, I don’t lap up the soccer/cycling/cricket and these seem to often to fill the gaps between IronChef and SouthPark — when oh when are they going to ditch that ancient, tired, formulaic nonsense — surely Ten would pay them a $1 for those crusty relics. SBS needs to get fresh content, now they’ve lost a core program — TopGear to Nine, the scouts need to look further afield.
SBS2 is generally great — but for some inexplicable reason, the same (excellent) shows are repeated over and over — this is not a high-school media class, we have seen CityOfGod and MariaFullOfGrace 17 times already, and Devdas may have been the most expensive bollywood movie back in 2002, but since then it’s been eclipsed with films costing more than double, it also wasn’t worth a second viewing.
Newflash: brilliant films are produced every year, all year round, and it’s really not hard to find outside of Hollywoodland — it’s seems since David&Margaret jumped ship, SBS has been unable to decide what to play?!?
Once we complete the digital switchover, I really hope SBS splits into:
○ SBS1 24/7 documentary/drama/comedy channel
○ SBS2 24/7 world news/current affairs channel
○ SBS3 24/7 film/art/music/culture channel
○ SBS4 24/7 sport channel
with no overlaps between them.
as suggested above, ABC1 might as well be rebranded BBC5, given the amount of watchable local content. ABC2 should be brought back as the 24/7 kids channel.
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This is an old thread, but in response to Tim’s article – the lauding of the UK’s C4 model is weak, given the poor financial state they find themselves in.
Also the ratings figures cited – the 16-39 demographic is not a target audience of SBS, but still – over the four day Easter long weekend – SBS ONE was the #4 network in this demographic above Go! and ABC1. There are swings and roundabouts depending on what’s on. SBS inevitably picks up viewers whenever the commercial networks choose not to play their regular programming.
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