The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is a public television network in Australia and part of the broader SBS television division. As of 2024, SBS had a 9.3% audience share, an increase from 8.5% in 2023. SBS originally began airing full-time transmissions on 24 October 1980 under the name 'Channel 0/28'; broadcasting on UHF Channel 28 and VHF Channel 0 in Sydney and Melbourne. On 18 February 1985, the station was renamed SBS. By 27 June 1985, the station had expanded its service to Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle, and Wollongong. By 16 March 1986, the expansion had grown to include Perth, Canberra and Hobart. As of 2025, SBS TV is the fifth-rated television network and primary channel in Australia, behind the Seven Network, Nine Network, ABC TV and Network 10.
History
Origins SBS began test transmissions in April 1979 under the name "SBS Ethnic Television", broadcasting foreign-language programs on ABV-2 Melbourne and ABN-2 Sydney on Sunday mornings. Full-time transmission commenced at 6:30 p.m. on 24 October 1980 (United Nations Day) as Channel 0/28. At the time, SBS broadcast on UHF Channel 28 and VHF Channel 0. Bruce Gyngell, who introduced television to Australia back in 1956, was tasked with launching the station's initial programming. The first program broadcast was a documentary on multiculturalism titled Who Are We?, hosted, produced, and directed by Australian journalist Peter Luck. The opening broadcast included an announcement accompanied by Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. Founder Bruce Gyngell stated that the network was intended to provide programming for ethnic communities as well as general Australian audiences. A 1981 study indicated that Channel 0/28 was watched by a significant portion of Sydney viewers; the data showed that approximately 98% of people within surveyed ethnic groups watched programming in their respective languages. Gyngell left SBS in late 1982 (later joining TV-am in the United Kingdom in 1984), after which the network began to rely more heavily on repeating programming.
1980s to the 1990s
On 14 October 1983, the service expanded to Canberra on UHF28, as well as Cooma and Goulburn on UHF58, at the same time changing its name to Network 0–28. It also introduced a new slogan: "Bringing the World Back Home". To mark the expansion, the channel aired a message from the prime minister, as well as a documentary on UHF tuning. On 18 February 1985, the station was renamed to SBS and began daytime programming from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., while the start time of the evening transmissions was moved to 5:30 p.m. In June of the same year, SBS expanded to Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle, Wollongong, and the Gold Coast. On 5 January 1986, SBS ceased broadcasting on the VHF0 frequency. Although many Australians at the time did not have UHF antennas, SBS's VHF license had already been extended for one year, and not all antennas were compatible with the channel's low-frequency broadcasting either. Following this, on 16 March 1986, SBS commenced transmission in Perth and Hobart. Darwin was the last capital city to receive SBS, with a local signal launched on 20 May 1994, and Shepparton was the last city to launch the channel in November 2001. Although SBS Television commenced transmissions as a non-commercial television network, in 1991, the network began broadcasting advertisements between programs.
2000s In 2001, digital terrestrial television was introduced with transmissions available to most of SBS Television's coverage area on 1 January 2001. This was soon followed by the gradual introduction of widescreen programming. The hosts of The Movie Show, David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz, moved to the ABC in April 2004 to host a new program called At the Movies. The Movie Show continued with four new hosts, which included Megan Spencer, Jaimie Leonarder, Fenella Kernebone, and Marc Fennell. The final episode of The Movie Show aired in June 2006, after the show was cancelled. The same month, SBS announced it would start showing advertisements during programs, unlike the previous practice in which advertisements were only shown in between programs. In May 2007, The Movie Show returned with a new interactive ten-minute format, presented by Lisa Hensley and Michael Adams. On 1 June 2009, SBS TV was renamed SBS One to coincide with the launch of its new sister channel SBS Two (now SBS Viceland), which would offer programming geared towards younger audiences.
2010s On 10 December 2013, SBS ceased analogue television broadcasts and is now only available through digital TV or a digital set-top box. On 27 March 2014, SBS and SBS Two stopped broadcasting Weatherwatch Overnight, an overnight filler program providing national and international weather information with live video feeds of various cities around the world provided by EarthTV. Subsequently, both channels now broadcast 24/7. On 4 July 2015, SBS One changed its name back to SBS TV. SBS launched a new channel focusing on both local and international food programming on 17 November 2015. The channel, called SBS Food (formerly Food Network due to the partnership with Discovery Inc.), is available on free-to-air channel 33. On 15 November 2016, SBS rebranded its sister station SBS 2 to SBS Viceland with content from US-Canadian broadcaster Vice Media after signing a deal with Vice Media on 23 June 2016. Since February 2019, SBS rebranded with a minor logo refresh, with the same original 2008 and 2015 logo modified by slightly downsizing the mercator with the wordmark slightly growing and introducing a new slogan, "A world of difference." On 1 July 2019, SBS World Movies began broadcasting on Channel 32. This replaced the standard-definition broadcast of SBS Viceland, which moved to Channel 31 in high-definition. With this launch, SBS World Movies became the network's fourth multichannel, alongside SBS, SBS Viceland, and SBS Food.
2020s
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