Sunday 19 August 2007

Save SBS


SBS is a public broadcaster, paid for by our taxes and was intended to be commercial free, like the ABC.

Save Our SBS is a group of ordinary people who want SBS to be fully funded by government, as it once was, so it is not reliant on advertising. Your support is needed.

Click on the link to sign the petition about advertisements on SBS and funding for our multicultural public broadcaster. Also, the site allows anyone to write material as well about SBS and the direction that public broadcasting in Australia is heading in.

The group is a not for profit, volunteer, community organisation that is not aligned with any political party or group. Don't forget to sign the petition.

In June last year, the SBS Board decided that they need to run advertising inside their programs, scrapping the 15-year-old policy of only running them in blocks between programs.

Here's the transcript from Media Report on ABC's Radio National, interviewing Emma Dawson, a former SBS employee who's done a doctorate looking at public broadcasting policy and the development of SBS.

This is how SBS explain their decision...


Why is there advertising on SBS TV and SBS Radio?
Advertising and sponsorship announcements are allowed on SBS Television and SBS Radio, but cannot exceed five minutes per hour. This provides a valuable source of revenue for the networks, allowing more funds to be channelled towards program making.

How many ads can be shown in an hour?
Five minutes of advertising is permitted each hour, before or after programs and during natural breaks.

Does advertising influence program content?
SBS has specific program guidelines to ensure this does not happen.

Why do you show so many station IDs and program promotions?
SBS wishes to attract the biggest possible audience and one way to do this is to alert viewers of forthcoming programs. Not all viewers have access to TV guides and short promos of the following program or future programs is an effective method to raise viewer awareness of the SBS schedule. The brief station IDs help maintain SBS’s on-air image.

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