SBS TELEVISION

SBS is the youngest of Australia's five free-to-air networks.

Announced in the late 1970s as a spin off from the successful multilingual radio stations (2EA Sydney and 3EA Melbourne) that the Government had launched in 1975 - the new television channel would provide programs aimed specifically at the growing number of Australian citizens for which English is not their native language, and also would reflect the various aspects of Australia's now multicultural society.

Operated by the Special Broadcasting Service, the new television service made its first appearance on air in April 1979 with a test transmission broadcasting a compilation of special multicultural programs on ABC stations ABN2 Sydney and ABV2 Melbourne on Sunday mornings.

On Friday 24 October 1980, the new Channel 0/28 made its official debut at 6.30pm in Sydney and Melbourne.  Bruce Gyngell, who appeared on the opening night of television in 1956, was the first to appear on Channel 0/28 as the station's first Chief Executive.  After Gyngell's opening introduction came 0/28's first program, a documentary by Peter Luck called Who Are We?

Channel 0/28's arrival also marked the introduction of UHF television in Australia by broadcasting via UHF channel 28 in Sydney and Melbourne, in simulcast with VHF transmissions on the channel 0 frequency.  The station faced an uphill battle in its early years to gain viewers, with the UHF band being new to Australian viewers, and also problems faced by the use of the channel 0 frequency particularly in Sydney where many TV antennas were not compatible with the 0 frequency.

By the end of 1980, Channel 0/28 had launched its widely acclaimed World News with newsreader George Donikian.  In 1981, 0/28 launched its own locally produced variety program Cabaret.

In 1982, community television made its first appearance with a series of test programs screened on 0/28 from community TV group Open Channel.  By the late 1980s, a weekly program, Windows, would provide a weekly glimpse at television produced by community television groups and would be the predecessor to full-time community TV channels that popped up in the mid-1990s.

In October 1983, Channel 0/28 made its first move to extend beyond Sydney and Melbourne with commencement of transmission in Canberra, Goulburn and Cooma - all on the UHF band.  At the same time, Channel 0/28 became Network 0/28 and unveiled a new signature theme Bringing The World Back Home.

On 18 February 1985, Network 0/28 became SBS and began its first regular daytime transmissions.

SBS expanded to Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Gold Coast on Sunday 30 June 1985.  On 5 January 1986, SBS ceased its VHF transmissions on channel 0 in Sydney and Melbourne, making it Australia's first sole UHF network.  The network expanded to Perth and Hobart on 16 March 1986.

The future of SBS was cast into doubt later in 1986 when the Federal Government announced plans to pass legislation that would merge the two national broadcasters ABC and SBS, effective 1 January 1987.  The proposal was protested by SBS and the various multicultural communities and by 1987, Prime Minister Bob Hawke announced the merger would now not proceed.

In 1990, SBS is given Government approval to seek sponsorship funds for its telecast of the FIFA World Cup.  This would be a predecessor to SBS carrying limited amounts of paid advertising (up to five minutes per hour) on both television and radio services from 1991.

In 1993, SBS abandoned it's original "O" logo and launched it's current "SBS" logo.  Transmission expanded to Darwin on 20 May 1994.  The network has continued to expand across regional Australia - with further expansion still to occur.

Programming highlights from the first twenty years have included the 1982 award-winning mini-series Women Of The Sun; the American mini-series The Civil War; music programs Rock Around The World, The Noise, MC Tee Vee and Alchemy; drama series including The Girl From Steel City, City West, House Gang and Going Home; current affairs programs Dateline; Aboriginal affairs program ICAM; the long-running Movie Show; the American animated cult favourites South Park and Happy Tree Friends; the annual Eurovision Song Contest; the popular science show Mythbusters, and of course the network's proud soccer coverage which brought the game to Australian prime time television for the first time, and in particular the World Cup telecasts which have achieved the networks highest ratings ever.

Digital television arrived on 1 January 2001, and SBS began simulcasting its analogue service in digital in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.  By mid-2002, SBS launched its first digital-only channel, the SBS World News Channel, dedicated to continuous news broadcasts from around the world in languages other than English.  By June 2006, SBS had expanded digital television services to 161 transmitter sites across metropolitan and regional Australia.

In 2004, SBS enters into an arrangement to share Olympic Games telecast rights with the Seven Network, providing up to 15 hours a day of Olympic events coverage.  SBS also packaged daily highlights of Olympics coverage for the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.

A controversial change in the network's on-air presentation followed in 2006, with commercial breaks now being inserted within programs rather than the previous method of only airing commercial breaks in between programs.  This change was met with criticism from supporters of SBS and also some of its own staff, not least being the station's veteran news presenter Mary Kostakidis.

The nightly news bulletin, World News Australia, was expanded from a half-hour to one-hour format on 22 January 2007 with former Seven Network presenter Stan Grant joining Kostakidis at the news desk.

original text © TelevisionAU
16 October 2000
revised 5 August 2004
revised 12 April 2006
revised 24 August 2007

Channel 0/28 (1980-83)

Opening Night, 24 October 1980: Following Bruce Gyngell's opening introduction was the first program, the documentary Who Are We? presented by Peter Luck (top).  Followed later in the evening by the locally produced telemovie The Three Sea Wolves, a comedy starring Chantal Contouri (centre)

Network 0/28 becomes SBS (1985)

Newsreaders George Donikian (1980-1988) and Mary Kostakidis (1988-2007)
(Picture: TV Week, 1985)

SBS since 1993

SBS World News Channel (2002)

1950s