Special Broadcasting Service
 |
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| Type | Radio Network Television Network |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Availability | National |
| Founded | 1 January 1975 |
| Slogan | Seven Billion Stories |
| Headquarters | Artarmon, New South Wales |
| Owner | Commonwealth of Australia |
|
Key people
|
Bulent Hass Dellal (Acting Chairman) Michael Ebeid (managing director) |
|
Launch date
|
1 January 1975 (Radio) 24 October 1980 (Television) 1 January 2001 (Digital TV) |
| Channel 3 | |
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Television
|
SBS TV, SBS Viceland, Food Network, NITV, SBS HD |
| Callsigns | SBS |
|
Callsign meaning
|
Special Broadcasting Service |
|
Official website
|
www.sbs.com.au |
The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio, online, and television network. SBS operates four TV channels (SBS, SBS Viceland, Food Network and NITV) and five radio networks (SBS Radio 1, 2 and 3, SBS Chill and SBS PopAsia). SBS Online (sbs.com.au) is home to SBS On Demand video streaming service. The stated purpose of 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 is one of five main free-to-air networks in Australia.
In 1975, concerns that minority communities might require details in their own languages of the new Medibank health care scheme (renamed Medicare in 1984) led to the establishment of two ethnic-minority radio stations, 2EA in Sydney and 3EA in Melbourne. These started broadcasting in June 1975, with pre-recorded messages in seven and eight foreign languages, respectively.
The following year, the Federal Government formed the Consultative Committee on Ethnic Broadcasting. Following the recommendation of this and subsequent committees, the Broadcasting and Television Act 1942 was amended to form the Special Broadcasting Service. This legislation came into force on 1 January 1978, with the new broadcaster taking responsibility for 2EA and 3EA.
SBS TV began test transmissions in April 1979 when it showed various foreign language programs on ABV-2 Melbourne and ABN-2 Sydney on Sunday mornings. Full-time transmission began at 6:30 p.m. on 24 October 1980 (United Nations Day), as Channel 0/28. The first program shown was a documentary entitled 'Who Are We?', which was hosted by veteran news man Peter Luck. At the time, SBS was broadcasting on UHF Channel 28 and VHF Channel 0, with a planned discontinuation of the latter at some time in the future. Bruce Gyngell, who introduced television to Australia back in 1956, was given the task of introducing the first batch of programs on the new station.
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