Special Broadcasting Service

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Image:SBS.svgThe Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is one of two government funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television networks, the other being the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). The stated purpose of the SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect Australia's multicultural society" (SBS FAQ).

The SBS originates from two "Ethnic Radio" stations, 2EA in Sydney en 3EA in Melbourne, which started broadcasting in 1975 in respectively 7 and 8 ethnic languages and which initially were only meant to be temporary, to explain the new "Medibank" to ethnic communities, which, it was thought, required details in their own languages. The legislation founding the Special Broadcasting Service came into force on 1st January 1978 and now (2006) SBS Radio is broadcast in all states of the Australian Commonwealth in 68 languages and has a National Program as well as two local radio channels (1 FM and 1 AM) in Sydney and Melbourne.

SBS TV started as a non-commercial television channel but as of 1991 has begun accepting and broadcasting television advertisements (a controversial move at the time). It is notable, however, that advertisements are generally shown between programs; the network shows most its programs uninterrupted by "commercial breaks". Exceptions include the Eurovision Song Contest, live coverage of the 2005 Tour de France and their extended Sunday football program, The World Game.

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Services and divisions

The radio division broadcasts in 68 languages in all states of the Commonwealth. A large percentage of its TV programming is broadcasts of TV news programs from foreign countries (primarily not in English). It also shows many films in languages other than English. Its own news and current affairs programs have a higher concentration on international affairs than the ABC or the commercial networks, and carries less "soft" news. It also broadcasts many current affairs documentaries, and its sports coverage tends to focus on international sports, primarily football (soccer) and cycling (especially the Tour de France).

SBS is also one of the world's largest subtitler organisations. It produces subtitles for foreign film and documentary producers around the world and not just for films to be shown on its own SBS screenings. The subtitling services includes from English to other languages, foreign language to other language, as well as to English.

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Programming

SBS runs several imported drama and comedy series, including shows produced in languages other than English as well as notably risqué material that would not be shown on other broadcast networks in Australia - for instance, South Park, or Queer as Folk. It also screens a broad selection of films from around the world, including everything from French arthouse material to Hong Kong soft-core "erotica". The relatively relaxed attitude to sexuality on SBS gave it the nickname "Sex Before Sleep", or, combined with its soccer focus, "Sex and bloody Soccer" and "Sex Between Soccer". SBS's late-night programming is generally (and often humorously) acknowledged to be more risqué than that of other Australian television stations. Programming earlier in the day - including shows such as Global Village - displays the more traditional aspect of SBS by featuring material from around the world.

It recently began producing its own local comedy series (of which Pizza, Life Support and John Safran's series, and brand new reality television comedy series, Nerds FC are examples), characterised by obviously tiny budgets and the preparedness to push the boundaries of acceptable television humour - and, according to some, with considerable success.

One SBS institution is The Movie Show, a movie review show something in the vein of Siskel and Ebert in the United States (but actually predating it). The two presenters of the show, David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz, "defected" to the ABC in April 2004 to host a new program called At the Movies. The Movie Show continues with four new hosts - Megan Spencer, Jaimie Leonarder, Fenella Kernebone and Marc Fennell.

Dadi, the Turkish version of the American sitcom The Nanny is shown late nights on SBS.

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SBS News & Current Affairs

SBS's has a range of Australian news and current affairs programs that also stream content online.

It also broadcasts foreign language news 24 hours a day on its second digital channel, SBS World News Channel.

In late 2003, SBS announced that it would be screening a news program in Vietnamese as part of Worldwatch, produced by VTV4, a government channel of the communist regime in Vietnam. After large protests outside the Artarmon headquarters, with around 4000 protestors present, the program was scrapped.

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Sport on SBS

In previous years, sport shown on SBS has been limited to cycling, football and a number of other lesser promoted sports. The FIFA World Cup is telecasted every four years and has been done so since 1982. However in recent times, the SBS has also aired other sporting events including some of the 2004 Athens Olympics, the complete 2005 Ashes test series (Cricket) and the NFL's Super Bowl.

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Production notes

SBS has been one of the most progressive networks in regard to digital television - it broadcasts a second channel, SBS World News Channel, which as its name suggests is entirely foreign language news broadcasts, and has an electronic program guide (EPG) channel with program schedules, news headlines and nation-wide weather.

SBS uses subtitles in preference to dubbing. These do not interfere with the natural sounds of a movie, so viewers who understand the language can watch with ease. Subtitles are used on non-English speaking movies and shows. The subtitles usually consist of bold yellow text with a tint of a thin black border on a black background, positioned at the bottom centre of the television screen. This gives the best text legibility on the screen to viewers.

SBS and Seven came to an agreement to share the broadcasting of the 2004 Olympic Games in Australia, and SBS secured the rights to the 2004 Paralympics, screened in previous years on the ABC.

SBS's callsign is always SBS no matter where the license area is. SBS in the Capital Cities broadcasts analog television on UHF 28 and digital television on UHF 29.

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Language Services

Given SBS's multicultural expertise, has branched its operations to also include language services such as translating, subtitling, typesetting and voiceovers. One notable was their subtitling work on the movie Hero retained the proper translation to tiān xià as 'All under heaven'.

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Other information

The network provides a rehearsal venue for the SBS Radio and Television Youth Orchestra, an orchestra which records many broadcasts for the network and regularly tours overseas. For more information, visit SBSYO Website

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See also


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External links

Template:National radio networks in Australiaeo:Speciala Dissenda Servo fr:Special Broadcasting Service

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