Due to historical interest we now show you the style of our early web site.

From our scratchy but passionate inception on the web sometime around late April / early May 2007, the SaveOurSBS.org web site used the Patriotic Theme (which we modified) and was powered by WordPress. That Theme was in use from mid 2007 up to early 2008.

Our very first campaign, the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government, commenced, July 2007. Initially we had no publicity but eventually more than 7000 people signed our on-line petition to the Minister.

A still screen shot of the SaveOurSBS.org ORIGINAL Home Page is pictured below the ORIGINAL animated logo.

To view the ORIGINAL style of SaveOurSBS.org & Home Page: December 2007 click here.

Alternatively you may view an images copy of the Home Page from 2007 if you click here.

Not all the links in the older version of the original Home Page will be active.

BELOW: original animated logo

BELOW: screen shot of the SaveOurSBS.org original Home Page

ORIGINAL Home Page December 2007 shown above.

Not all the links in the older version of the original Home Page will be active.

A CERTAIN SCRIBE: “Dylan’s true legacy is before us” by Errol Simper (The Australian 16 August 2007). We believe that Errol Simpers story was the first reference in main stream media about Save Our SBS.

“Network to blame for anchor’s loss” by Errol Simper (The Australian 22 August 2007)

“Save martyr Mary from SBS idiocy” by Geoff Roach (The Advertiser – Sunday Mail 25 August 2007)

“SBS: public service broadcasting is about vision as much as viewers” by Andy Lloyd James Former head of SBS-TV and SBS Independent (letter in The Sydney Morning Herald 4 September 2007)

“Save Our SBS” SLICE-TV – Events

“Disagreement on dumbness” (letter 6 September 2007 The Age ‘Green Guide’ pg 4 viewed on Press Display Newspapers From Around The World)

“Dumb and . . .” (letter 13 September 2007 The Age ‘Green Guide’ pg 4 viewed on Press Display Newspapers From Around The World)

Early Historical Blogroll

Mary the K: Symbol of the trashing of Australian public broadcasting

Petition to stop SBS advertising

SOSBS NOW!!!!

Save Our SBS Online Petition.

Save our SBS

Save SBS

What are the policies of the political parties about SBS funding and advertising on SBS?

Save Our SBS wrote to the each of the major political parties requesting them to tell us their party policies on SBS for publication on www.SaveOurSBS.org.

We asked a series of questions covering SBS funding and advertising. We wanted to know whether or not each party had a policy to ban all advertising on SBS; or, insist that SBS restrict ads to between programs only; or, leave the current arrangement of allowing SBS to continue to interrupt programs for advertisements. We also asked each party if they planned to merge SBS with the ABC. The replies are below in the order that each party responded.

Each of the major parties has been made aware of the Save Our SBS web site and the petition to fully fund SBS and stop the advertising on SBS.

LABOR:

Read the reply from the Shadow Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy in which he explains the ALP policy. His comment is below Our Interpretation & Comment.

Our Interpretation & Comment

It seems that the general thrust of the Labor ‘SBS policy’ is somewhat encouraging to Save Our SBS.

Labor believes that SBS should be “free from commercial and political influence” and “Labor has opposed and continues to oppose the decision by SBS to introduce advertising into its programming”. Senator Conroy also said that Labor is committed to “ensuring adequate funding . . . for the SBS”.

Despite these fine sentiments, Save Our SBS was not able to establish if a Labor government would actually fully fund SBS as Labor has only said it will provide “adequate” funding. Does that mean full funding?

Although Senator Conroy stated that Labor believes that SBS should be “free from commercial influence” we were also not able to establish if that means if a Labor government would actually ban all advertising on SBS so that it is truly commercial free.

One thing that is clear is that Labor “opposes advertising into [SBS] programming”.

At the very least it seems that a Labor government would insist that if SBS were to continue to advertise, then the advertisements ought to only be placed between programs and not in them (as used to be the case). If this were to be the case (again) no explanation is offered by Senator Conroy as to how that might be achieved. Save Our SBS had already addressed that issue on this web site at http://saveoursbs.org/faq-sbs-advertising-legislation/ which essentially says that the words: “or during natural program breaks” ought to be deleted from section 45(2)(a) of the Special Broadcasting Act (1991) to absolutely prevent SBS from interrupting programs for advertisements in the future. Save Our SBS is not sure if Labor considers such an amendment necessary because “Labor is concerned that the SBS’s action [of interrupting programs for advertisements] may place it [SBS] in breach of the Act” presumably because the Act does not define “natural program breaks”

All of the above, although encouraging, has left many questions unanswered. As a result, we still urge all people who care about SBS, to read and sign the petition to stop the ads and have SBS fully funded by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

The following was received by Save Our SBS from Senator Stephen Conroy by email dated 11 October 2007.

Save Our SBS has asked Senator Conroy to clarify if a Labor government would maintain SBS as a unique and independent public broadcaster and fund SBS fully, or, merge SBS with the ABC; ban advertising completely on SBS, or, only allow ads between programs but not in them (as used to be the case). We await Senator Conroy’s reply. When we receive a response we will publish that here.

Senator Conroy sent us a follow up email on 12 November, 2007 which was the same as his email of 11 October 2007 above except that this later email contained one extra paragraph. It is published in the box below.

In the meantime, sign the petition to protect SBS and stop ads on SBS.

THE GREENS

We asked The Australian Greens for their policies regarding SBS. We asked a series of questions. Anna Sildever from the Office of Senator Bob Brown supplied the answers by email dated 23 October 2007.

The Greens polices are encouraging too for SBS and public broadcasting in general.

In the meantime, sign the petition to protect SBS and stop ads on SBS.

THE DEMOCRATS

Senator Lyn Allison Leader of the Australian Democrats wrote to Save Our SBS. Her letter is below dated 30 October 2007.

The Democrats also supplied to Save Our SBS their action plan statement for SBS (and the ABC). It is available here in PDF: Public Broadcasting AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS ACTION PLAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC BROADCASTING [SBS & ABC Policy] 30 Oct 2007.

The Public Broadcasting policies of the Democrats are very encouraging for the future of SBS.

As SBS is still not fully funded by government, and continues to interrupt programs for advertisements, and, there appears to be no end in sight for the commercialisation of SBS, and, the Board of SBS pays lip service to multicultural programming, Save Our SBS strongly urges people to sign the petition now to protect SBS and stop the ads on SBS.

THE OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES

Save Our SBS has not received a policy statement from any of the other political parties.

However the office of: Senator Helen Coonan (Liberal Senator) and Minister for Communications, Information Technology & the Arts; AND, the office of: Mark Vaile (Leader of the Nationals) and Deputy Prime Minister, and, Minister for Transport & Regional Services; have both given notice to Save Our SBS that in time their Offices will forward their comments about SBS regarding advertising on SBS and SBS funding. When those comments from the Liberal & National coalition parties are received by Save Our SBS we will publish them here.

We urge everyone who cares about SBS and public broadcasting to send a clear message to our politicians that we expect SBS to be fully funded by government and without any advertising at all.

SaveOurSBS

Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

SaveOurSBS

How Is SBS Funded?

SBS is a public broadcaster.

Most of the funding for SBS is from the Federal Government which has remained fairly steady in recent years. Funding from government for SBS: $186 million (2006-07); $188.2 million (2007-08); and, expected to be $190.9 million (2008-09). Although the numbers ascend the dollar value probably remains about the same or decreases slightly.

Current & Past Years Funding

About 80% ⁽¹⁾ of the funding for SBS comes from the Commonwealth Government. SBS is on the public record as stating that they believe that they will raise an extra $10M ⁽²⁾ in their first year (2007) of interrupting programs for ads. Even before SBS decided to interrupt TV programs for ads, their income from advertising ⁽²⁾ had increased compared to previous years As this occurred the income from the Commonwealth Government remained static and was reported by SBS to be down by $3M ⁽³⁾ (in real terms) in the May 2006 Budget.

Whenever SBS income from advertising increased, funding from the government remained static (a decrease in real terms). It’s a vicious circle. The more SBS gets from ads, the less it gets from government (in real terms).

If the above scenario continues the day could conceivably come when the Commonwealth Government will only fund SBS to a very small extent or stop funding it altogether. The more successful SBS is with its advertising, the more we, as the viewer will be ‘sold out’ to the advertisers in preference to us, the viewer.

SBS appeals to the different audiences that make up Australian society. If SBS receives little or no funding from the government and is forced to rely more heavily on advertising for income, the quality of the programs will suffer. This very lean broadcaster will be forced to reduce its operating budget further due to financial constraints. If the opposite happens and SBS is very, very successful at selling advertising by interrupting programs for commercials, there is a very real possibility that the Federal Government will eventually want to sell off SBS just as many other publicly owned institutions have been privatised and sold off. There is a history of this happening to other public broadcasters worldwide.

Of course if SBS is eventually sold or privatised, then its Shareholders will expect it to run at a profit. However given the current Charter of SBS the newly-privatised-broadcaster would argue that the Charter is too restrictive and ask/demand that it be changed. Does this sound like a familiar story? Ask the regulator to change the rules to run a company more profitably for the organisation that was formally owned by tax-payers but now owned by Shareholders?

We would prefer that SBS did not have to rely on commercials and therefore not be at risks of eventually receiving little of no funding from government.

Even if SBS is not privatised and manages to make more programs with the money from commercial breaks interrupting programs that simply means more programs will be interrupted for more commercials. It’s a never ending circle.

We need legislative change to save our SBS.

What will happen if SBS-TV stops advertising in programs (and places ads between programs only) but gets no increase in government funding? Will SBS survive?

Yes. SBS is said to operate “on a shoe string budget and the smell of an oily rag”. It would be far more preferable if it were fully funded properly by the Commonwealth government and on an on-going basis.

The Financial Statement from the SBS Annual Report for the financial year 2005 to 2006 ⁽⁴⁾ reveals that revenue from the sale of advertising and sponsorship accounted for $46,523,000 (not all of this is from the sale of air time for ads on SBS-TV although most of it is as some was from SBS program & merchandise sales and some from SBS-internet-on-line ads and some from SBS-radio ads) while the total income from all revenue, including the government portion, was $241,782,000. Income from government funding alone was $176,472,000. Government funding available for programming did not increase in the May 2006 Budget (funds from government for the financial year 2006 to 2007). As SBS hoped that by interrupting programs they would raise an extra $10M ⁽²⁾ in 2007, if that were to occur, and all other income streams were identical to the 2005-2006 financial year that would account for an increase of less than about 4.13% of the total income for SBS in 2007. It is highly likely to be significantly less because other income streams, besides TV ads, will most likely increase. Some people consider that even 4.13% of the total is virtually negligible.

“Why would you bother?”

Is it worth the effort? Why antagonise the entire SBS-TV audience for such a tiny increase in total income?

SBS argue that they will be able to make more Australian drama programs with an increase, however, unlike other broadcasters; SBS was primarily established to import programs from other countries. The original logo of SBS-TV, then called Multi-Cultural Television (MTV) channel 0-28, was the singing jingle “Bringing The World Back Home”. As such, unlike other broadcasters, SBS did not require massive funds to show foreign language programs on Australian television.

SBS Charter

Although the Charter of SBS states that SBS is to: “reflect the changing nature of Australian society, by presenting many points of view and using innovative forms of expression” there is absolutely nothing in the SBS Charter that specifically states that SBS must make Australian television drama, where as, there are requirements on commercial television to do that. The ABC makes Australian dramas and other Australian television programs. The Charter of SBS says that SBS is to take: “into account the contribution of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation” meaning let the ABC make such programs as the ABC is supposed to be a comprehensive broadcaster, unlike SBS which is supposed to be a special broadcaster. SBS should compliment and supplement other broadcasters, not copy them, ABC or commercial. The reason is because the SBS Charter states that the: “principal function of the SBS is to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services” and that these should “as far as practicable . . . [be] in their preferred languages” The original intent was that most programs would therefore be in languages other than English (LOTE). For many years SBS reflected that intent. It now does not. Most programs in prime time viewing are now in English as are the commercials.

If SBS were to follow the Charter more closely it would not be driven to increase its revenue by a mere fraction, in the hope to make more Australian drama programs, which, ultimately, will even mean more programs will be interrupted with more commercials.

Over time, many large organisations become bureaucratic and perhaps less efficient than they once were, particularly at the higher levels of that organisation. Is SBS now like that? Are SBS viewers now suffering from the intrusion and annoyance of commercial breaks in program because of an out of touch Board or senior management at SBS? Are egos high at that level?

SBS have stated that extra money is required to full fill their Charter requirements, however, when was the last time you heard of the SBS Board arguing their case for more government funding (instead of running ads)? By looking to advertising to increase revenue (by a mere fraction of the total), SBS do not need to convince any member of the government of their motive or reasoning. That is hardly in the spirit of what a public broadcaster should be. Where is the accountability?

If SBS were to return to its former style of program presentation, where it did not interrupt regular programs for commercial breaks, it would survive. You the viewer would not suffer.

However should programs continue to be interrupted for commercial breaks this valued public broadcaster will eventually be lost to ‘commercialisation’ and virtually be no different from any other commercial station.

Please do your bit to save our SBS (SOSBS).

Sign the petition.

May 2007 Budget

If you were hoping to find a funding rescue package for SBS in the May 2007 Federal Budget you may be sadly disappointed. We are not aware of anything to report in this regard. SBS still continues to pursue the ‘commercialisation’ path in lieu of sufficient government funding.

For more information about the above read: “We Don’t Believe You Shaun” on the Save Our SBS web site (www.SaveOurSBS.org).

References:

1. SBS CORPORATION “FAQ” <sbs.com.au> web pg id=379

http://www20.sbs.com.au/sbscorporate/index.php?id=379

2. SBS publication: “04 Commercial Affairs” pg 41 – 50

http://www20.sbs.com.au/sbscorporate/media/documents/652304_commercial_affairs.pdf

3. SBS Media Release: Tuesday 9 May 2006: “SBS DISAPPOINTED WITH BUDGET”

http://www20.sbs.com.au/sbscorporate/media/documents/36362006__budget_response_9_may.doc

4. SBS publication: “08 Financial Statements” pg 89 – 127 (Australian National Audit Office: 17 August 2006)

http://www20.sbs.com.au/sbscorporate/media/documents/91508_financial_statements.pdf

Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

SaveOurSBS

]]> http://saveoursbs.org/archives/173/feed 0 http://saveoursbs.org/archives/126 http://saveoursbs.org/archives/126#comments Mon, 03 Sep 2007 06:09:08 +0000 Save Our SBS http://saveoursbs.org/archives/126 SaveOurSBS has been granted permission to re-publish the story below in full by Quentin Dempster. It originally appeared in The Australian 23 August 2007.

“SBS debate: 4th commercial network?” by Quentin Dempster

THE Zampatti board at SBS has embarked on a strategy to turn SBS television into Australia’s fourth commercial channel.

In the January issue of B&T, the advertising industry magazine, SBS commercial director Richard Finlayson confirmed SBS was out “to position SBS as Australia’s fourth commercial network”.

This helped to explain why the board last year obtained legal advice from external counsel to overturn a 15-year-old internal legal ruling that advertising in

Click here to read the full story . . .

If your comment truly relates to an SBS industrial issue, and may be of interest to the wider community please write your comments below.

A Comment may or may not be published for others to read. To write a Comment about a Post you first need to Login. To Login you need to be registered which you do by first clicking on the Register link in the far right column. You need to give your correct email address as a Password will be emailed to you so that when you return here, you are able to Login (and write your comment for publication below). During the registration process you will be asked for a Username. Your Username will be published as your ‘by-line’ if your comment is published. This site is moderated so there will be a delay before your Comment is published as a Post. We may also edit any contributions or not publish some at all. Where we are uncertain of the facts we will err on the side of caution. Fair comment is encouraged however please do not write comments of a defamatory nature. We wont publish those.

Any work you submit will be taken as approval by you to publish that as your opinion about this topic on SaveOurSBS.org unless you specifically state that it is not to be published.

There is no cost to register or write a post. There is no payment for any material you submit for publication on SaveOurSBS.org

What are the industrial issues affecting SBS? Are there any industrial issues that are peculiar to SBS since SBS decided to go down the commercial path, since SBS-TV began interrupting programs for ad breaks? Are there other industrial issues at SBS?

To post your reply comment or read what others have written about this topic and respond to their reply comment, see lower down this screen.

Please submit any material that you write in English only.

SaveOurSBS

Save Our SBS has been inundated with blog comments and emails from people who are supportive of Mary Kostakidis in her stand against the commercialisation of SBS. We publish some of those comments below and invite all bloggers who support Mary Kostakidis to post their own blog below (in preference to emailing us). A petition has been organised independently of www.SaveOurSBS.org and we agree with the petition to support Mary Kostakidis. We suggest you sign that petition as well as our petition, essentially over very similar issues, i.e., the commercialisation at SBS. It is important to sign both petitions:

http://petition.saveoursbs.org

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/marykostakidis/

After you sign both petitions, please return to this post, read on, and post your own supportive comments below.

A Comment may or may not be published for others to read. To write a Comment about a Post you first need to Login. To Login you need to be registered which you do by first clicking on the Register link in the far right column. You need to give your correct email address as a Password will be emailed to you so that when you return here, you are able to Login (and write your comment for publication below). During the registration process you will be asked for a Username. Your Username will be published as your ‘by-line’ if your comment is published. This site is moderated so there will be a delay before your Comment is published as a Post. We may also edit any contributions or not publish some at all.

Any work you submit will be taken as approval by you to publish that as your opinion about this topic on SaveOurSBS.org unless you specifically state that it is not to be published.

There is no cost to register or write a post. There is no payment for any material you submit for publication on SaveOurSBS.org

What do you think about SBS and the way they treated Mary Kostakidis?

Do you agree with the stand taken by Mary Kostakidis about the commercialisation of SBS, that it has gone too far?

To post your reply comment or read what others have written about this topic and respond to their reply comment, see lower down this screen.

Please submit any material that you write in English only.

SaveOurSBS

In the first month since we launched the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government, we clocked up some 1500 signatures. Everyone at www.SaveOurSBS.org has been very encouraged. We had had virtually no publicity until the last of these and only fairly limited publicity at that. People have mainly heard about us mainly via email (from other people who have signed), search engines, links from other web sites, our own brochure and word of mouth.

We still need a lot, lot more people to sign.

As far as we know, in the first month, our web address www.SaveOurSBS.org had not yet appeared in print in mainstream media.

We Need Your Help

We are now at the stage where we need vast numbers of people, like yourself, to write letters to the daily newspapers to discuss the SBS advertising issue. The success of the petition needs the publicity. Be sure to include our correct name, which is: Save Our SBS and our correct web address, which is: www.SaveOurSBS.org. 

Phone talkback radio too. When calling talkback radio it is critical to mention “Save Our SBS DOT org” even if it is only a passing comment.

Another way to let people know about Save Our SBS and the petition is to copy and paste the text in the box below and email it to all your contacts.

******************************************************************

******************************************************************

Lobby Politicians

Also speak to your senator, your local member for parliament, local government and any organisations that may have some influence. In the end it is the federal politicians who need to change legislation to fix the problem. If you can lobby, then do that.

Your Comments

You may like to comment on this topic. Tell others what you did to help. You need to be registered and logged in to do so.

Please submit any material that you write in English only.

SaveOurSBS

“Dear SBS: ad breaks just don’t hold water” by  Michael Shmith

A good 25 years ago, when SBS was still called Channel 0 and ran series such as Three Women and their Hot-Dog Stand, it had the curious habit of interrupting films halfway through with promotions for other films and programs. At the time, I was editing The Age Green Guide, and we ran a small campaign to ban the break. The network’s excuse, that viewers needed it for natural reasons, did not hold water with us or the viewers, and eventually films ran straight through, as they do in the cinema.

I thought of this the other night when, Campari and soda to hand, I watched the first 20 minutes of Inspector Montalbano, SBS’s excellent Italian-made police series. Being a middle-aged, bald, bad-tempered journalist, I find it easy to identify with Salvo Montalbano, a middle-aged, bald, bad-tempered police inspector, and a Sicilian to boot. There was the obligatory corpse, calamari lunch for the eternally hungry Salvo, and — easy, now — an advertisement break.

While the inspector (had he been alongside, watching a program about himself) would be doing a passable imitation of Mount Etna, I simply drained the Campari and, with the sigh of a dying sirocco, turned the television off. I sat, gloomily contemplating the hopelessness of those within the Special Broadcasting Service who, while not yet sleeping with the fishes, should still receive the traditional Luca Brasi warning of several hundredweight of old halibut wrapped in a bulletproof vest.

I am probably in the minority; a single pixel among millions of others who don’t mind commercials and, indeed, watch films on commercial television for as long as six minutes at a stretch, or relish a friendly voice-over during final credits, telling one what’s coming up next, tomorrow, next week … Torture people long enough, they fall in love with their captors.

Not me. Commercial television has long been a special hell. The ABC and SBS (provided one can ignore the watermarks in the corner of the screen) at least had uninterrupted programs, as the ABC continues to do. SBS, alas, now has its “new structure”, designed, it says, to bring in extra revenue and designed, I say, to infuriate what’s left of a faithful viewing public. As one of them, I feel betrayed.

The SBS website contains the guidelines for the placement of breaks in its programs. They are restricted to no more than five minutes in any hour of broadcasting; an accompanying list of program categories, showing when or where breaks should occur — drama and comedy, documentaries, entertainment, competitions, music, news and current affairs, sport and three miscellaneous categories. Each is preceded with the words “natural breaks”; a phrase ominously close, though with different emphasis, to the network’s original reasoning for breaks in its films.

I’m afraid, for various reasons, this doesn’t hold water, either. First of all, I don’t care if it’s five instead of 15 minutes an hour: a break is still an interruption, regardless of its nature or length, and, as the well-mannered know, it is rude to interrupt. In November, in an address to a conference in Canberra, SBS’s managing director, Shaun Brown, gave the main reasons for the changes. In essence:

1. Long breaks — sometimes as long as eight minutes — between programs are not working and are losing audiences who don’t stay for the next program.

2. Viewers do not see promotions for forthcoming programs.

3. Advertisers receive big discounts for appearing between programs; therefore the network is losing a potential $10 million a year.

Therefore, Brown summarised, “All of these problems are addressed by these changes. Shorter breaks between programs means better audience flow, promos inside programs means viewers are learning of other content that may appeal to them, and we are projecting a significant increase in revenue from this change, which will go directly into multicultural programming.”

To which, were I Salvo Montalbano, I would quote a Sicilian proverb: ” Cu lu vinnri e lu cumprari, nun c’è amici nè cumpari”, which, loosely translated, means “When there’s buying or selling, there are no friends”. Audience flow, better or otherwise, is of little concern to me; promos within programs are disruptive, and why can’t I consult the Green Guide, anyway?; and, whatever happens to extra revenue, it means more programs to interrupt.

SBS may claim it is within the rights of its charter to do so. I have as much right to see it as an invasion. Only a few of the barbarian horde have been let in, but it is enough.

Michael Shmith is a senior writer at The Age. The original story can be viewed at The Age.

Your Comments:
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Please submit any material that you write in English only.

Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

According to the filmmakers at a Q&A session after the screening, the film struggled to gain the funding necessary, and that ultimately it was only through generous responses to appeals that the production was able to continue. At this stage the documentary has not been picked up for screening to an Australian television audience. This is a pity, because it deserves a much wider audience.

It was this latter point that I reflected on afterwards. In the past, SBS would have been a possible, or indeed, probable outlet for the screening of such a documentary. But I wonder how this could happen now. Under the advertising policy this already long film would get extended by about 15 minutes or so. However, the thought of this carefully crafted piece of work being emacerated by advertising breaks makes me gag. I can’t think of any place in the film where an interruption of any kind would show any respect to the work, the subject, or the audience. And I think the same applies to most programs, but especially documentaries.

SBS Independent (SBSi) has for many years been an important part of the documentary making field in Australia, and have leant their support to the making of many excellent documentaries when they might not otherwise have happened. Often these are premiered on the film festival circuit, but ultimately screened on SBS TV. I wonder how the relationship between SBSi and filmmaker is faring now. Does SBSi specify that a film must be constructed in such a way as to be suitable for advertising breaks? Has the criteria for assessing a documentary for production support or pre-sale changed, or involved commercial departments?

SBS claims that the objective of running in-program advertisements to to generate more income than is possible with inter-program breaks, and that this additional revenue is to be ploughed back into the making of more and better programs. One has to be sceptical about how programs can be made better by interrupting them with ads. I can’t imagine that Australian documentary makers would any longer be knocking on the door of SBS looking to form a partnership in their projects.

Sadly therefore, it is looking like that Australia has lost a previously repected documentary screener and producer, leaving the ABC the only effective (free to air) vehicle. That this has been allowed to happen by government is a travesty.

Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

SaveOurSBS

SBS Avoids Complaint About Ad Interruptions

SBS have devised a new protocol in broadcasting. If you have a complaint about SBS breaching its own advertising guidelines, there is no system to have your complaint properly dealt with either by SBS or the regulator. Complaints about ads, are not covered by the SBS Codes of Practice.

Prior to SBS making the decision in 2006 to interrupt SBS-TV for commercial breaks, in a very clever move, SBS changed the SBS Codes of Practice (PDF) and introduced a new document called the (SBS) Guidelines For The Placement of Breaks in Television Programs September 2006 (PDF) which essentially provides the SBS definition of “natural program breaks”. The move was clever and premeditated because the Board of SBS knew that they were establishing a system whereby SBS would have no accountability to the general public nor anyone who wished to lodge a formal complaint about the broadcasters decision to interrupt SBS-TV programs for advertisements. The Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991 (PDF) does not define “natural program breaks.”

All broadcasters are required to have a Codes of Practice. The Codes are reviewed every three years or so. The Codes are required under legislation and registered with the regulator, The Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA).

Under broadcasting legislation the intent of the Codes was among other things, to establish program and advertising standards and to provide a complaints system for a person who wishes to complain about any material broadcast. However in their Codes of September 2006, SBS wanted to avoid dealing with their decision to interrupt TV programs for ads. To do this SBS decided that the placement of ads, would not be covered under the Codes of Practice to the extent that: Code 5.2 states that “The SBS Board will develop guidelines on matters relating to the placement . . . of advertisements. . .” which the Board has done, the (SBS) Guidelines For The Placement of Breaks in Television Programs September 2006. These Guidelines therefore are the SBS definition of “natural program breaks”.

The problem for the viewer is that should you believe that SBS has breached its own definition of where ads should be placed, you have no recall. The Guidelines are now separate from the Codes. If the definition of “natural program breaks” were defined in the Codes, you would have some redress and SBS would be required to deal with your complaint. If you were not satisfied with their response, you could take your advertising complaint to the regulator ACMA.

ACMA can only follow up on complaints that are a breach of the Codes. As the Guidelines For The Placement of Breaks in Television Programs are separated from the Codes of Practice there is no legislative mechanism for ACMA to even consider any complaints about SBS interrupting any program for ad breaks.

If you believe that SBS should not be interrupting TV programs for advertisements there is no legislative process to deal with your complaint. Similarly if you just thought that they were insensitive about where they placed the ads in a certain program bad luck.

For this reason alone you should sign the petition to stop ads on SBS.

SBS Brushes Off Complaint (below)

Save Our SBS (SOSBS) has been given a complaint (below) from an SBS viewer together with a response from SBS that highlights that there is no proper framework to deal with a complaint from a viewer about ads in program.

In this case the allegation was that SBS had breached its own Guidelines For The Placement of Breaks in Television Programs September 2006 and therefore breached the SBS Codes of Practice 2006; and, the Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991. SBS brushed aside the complaint.

The complainant told SOSBS that originally allegations about ads in three programs were to be complained of but at the last minute, the complainant only complained of ads in two programs however left a numbering reference to the third program. We mention this should you wonder ‘what is the third program?’ It was never named in the complaint to SBS about advertisements interruptions into program.

The arguments of the complainant below are a little technical but well worth reading along with the response from SBS following:-

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Sign the petition to protect SBS and stop ads in programs.

SBS Response To The Complaint Above

The reply from SBS does not address the specific questions raised by the complainant (above) other than to say that SBS believes they have done nothing wrong. This is under the pretext that the Guidelines are now separate from the Codes and there is no legal requirement on the part of SBS to deal with any complaint that is outside the Codes.

It is worth reading the response from SBS below:-

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What Does The Above Mean?

The above clearly shows that Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991 is inadequate as it does not define “natural program breaks” nor does it give any rights to a viewer who believes that SBS has “forced” advertisements into an “unnatural” break. The above complaint and reply from SBS also shows that the SBS Codes of Practice 2006; and, the (SBS) Guidelines For The Placement of Breaks in Television Programs September 2006 are totally inappropriate for SBS or indeed any public broadcaster. All three instruments need reform.

Sign the petition to protect SBS and to save our multicultural broadcaster.

Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

SaveOurSBS

“Come Clean On Commercialisation” by Quentin Dempster

With the federal election campaign already in full swing Quentin Dempster previews the policy debate about the future of public broadcasting.

“Stiff and stiffer.” Those erectile dysfunction ads on SBS television are helping to spotlight the Howard government’s insidious agenda for public broadcasting in Australia.

The 2004 Liberal Party election manifesto made no mention of stretching or reinterpreting the SBS Act’s definition of “natural breaks”. From 1992, when advertising was introduced at SBS through an amendment to the SBS Act, the SBS board’s consistent legal advice was that “natural breaks” meant ads could only be broadcast between programs, not during them, with the possible exception of lengthy sporting coverage. That interpretation prevailed from 1992 to 2007. Last year the [Carla] Zampatti-chaired board at SBS overruled that 15-year internal legal advice to seek an external counsel’s opinion.

That process produced for the SBS board a legal opinion that “natural breaks” could be interpreted as meaning convenient spots within programs. Equipped with this highly questionable and still legally untested opinion, the SBS board, without advance notice or consultation with its audience, set about turning SBS television into a fully commercial channel.

In fact, the Zampatti board’s business plan is to turn SBS Television into Australia’s fourth free-to-air commercial channel.

Don’t take my word for it. An eagle-eyed informant, knowing my aversion to commercialising public broadcasting in Australia, spotted the SBS business strategy in B&T, the advertising industry magazine.

On January 17, just as SBS was to start broadcasting ads through its new hour-long news, documentaries, feature films and other programs, B&T told the advertising and marketing industry that SBS was out “to position SBS as Australia’s fourth commercial network”.

B&T quoted SBS commercial director Richard Finlayson: “We have tended to fly under the radar and people just have not taken us seriously. Our long-term agenda is that we do not want people to just think about the three commercial networks but SBS as well. We are now taking a more aggressive approach to communicating our message and particularly with building our relationships with key media.”

The Zampatti board has embarked on this fully commercial business plan with the informal agreement of the Howard government that appointed it.

Again, this fundamental change to the role and funding of SBS within the broadcast media was not in the ruling Liberal Party’s 2004 election manifesto.

The Howard government has no mandate from the Australian people to do this. The communications minister, Helen Coonan, says advertising within programs at SBS is a matter for the “independent” SBS board. But when the other commercial television networks realise what is in play, the minister, and undoubtedly the prime minister, will suffer the wrath of those competing in a now very tight free-to-air TV advertising market. Was it government policy to impose a fourth fully commercial television channel by stealth when Coonan’s recently announced media reforms ruled out such a channel?

The Zampatti board will say that the Special Broadcasting Service Act caps advertising at just five minutes an hour, unlike Seven, Nine and Ten, which can broadcast up to 15 minutes an hour. But after bludgeoning the SBS audience with in-program advertising and achieving their reluctant acceptance, it is only a matter of time before the board seeks the removal of the cap.

The ethnic communities of Australia, for which SBS was created by the Fraser government (1975-83), have almost given up on SBS. With its ratings-chasing programming in sport and the replacement of all foreign language programming with English language programs in prime time, SBS seems to have abandoned its original charter to enhance its commercial revenue. It is now rejigging its news and current affairs output to adopt a more “commercial feel”.

There needs to be an important reassessment of the future of SBS. The taxpayers of Australia, who have invested ten of millions of dollars each year in SBS, should be consulted. The ABC would have a stronger case to merge with SBS and take on its multicultural charter obligations through the internet, digital multi-channel free-to-air television and digital radio, if the ABC were not already infected with the commercial virus. This virus has been injected into its veins by the Howard government through the [Maurice] Newman board.

The Newman board has restructured the ABC divisions, replacing ABC Enterprises (which manages ABC Shops and other related products) with what it is calling ABC Commercial.

With the ABC Act expressly prohibiting advertising on ABC radio and television, ABC Commercial wants to construct a new business plan around cybercast advertising on ABC Online. Broadcasting is rapidly morphing into cybercasting. If you miss tonight’s edition of The 7.30 Report, ABC TV News, or any other ABC copyright program, soon you will be able to go to your computer and play the full digital video at any time. People are already watching the popular The Chaser’s War on Everything and Four Corners’ broadband editions through their internet.

There is nothing in the ABC Act to prevent the Newman board from inserting advertising in and around this content.

The spirit of the ABC Act, drafted in 1983 before the internet was invented, is clearly against advertising. But the board has helpful legal advice that because the act is silent on internet advertising, there is nothing in the act to prevent cybercast advertising. (Lawyers. Don’t you just love ’em?)

Again the Howard government, through Coonan, says it is a matter for the ABC board. But the government has no mandate from the Australian people to distort the existing funding base of the ABC and, through the commercial imperative this will create, its very purpose.

Public broadcasters view their audiences as citizens in a democracy to be informed, engaged and challenged through innovative, high-quality and comprehensive programming, not as consumers to be delivered up to advertisers.

Both the ABC and SBS boards will say enhanced commercial returns will mean more Australian programming. This is superficially attractive. But what sort of programming? Mark Scott, the ABC’s new managing director, is a former editorial director of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd. We are told his Fairfax experience demonstrates that it is possible to separate church and state – editorial from commercial. This was rubbish at Fairfax and will be rubbish at the ABC. Just read Fred Hilmer’s book, The Fairfax Experience (Wrightbooks, $32.95).

Hilmer, the former Fairfax chief executive (and Scott’s mentor), set about transforming The Sydney Morning Herald and the other papers with multipleadvertorial sections and high-gloss magazines and inserts, getting maximum display advertising bang for the distribution buck. In the process Hilmer squeezed the space available for and investment in news and quality journalism. The revenue imperative (the state) overruled editorial (the church).

Fairfax now allows advertising stickers to obliterate its front-page headline. Did the editor ever object, at least to symbolically protect the paper’s editorial integrity on behalf of readers who buy the paper for its news?

Cybercast advertising at the ABC will be self-defeating. When push comes to shove in the pre-Budget Cabinet expenditure review committee, treasury advisers will monitor the ABC’s commercial revenue and downwardly adjust the taxpayer appropriation accordingly.

We now await the federal election campaign with interest. The future of public broadcasting should be on the agenda so that the Australian public can at least feel it is being consulted about its taxpayer investment in this sector.

The ABC board should have a transition strategy in the event that, as the polls now consistently indicate, there is a change of government. It should be telling the public just what the ABC can do for Australia through the digital free-to-air multi-channel and broadband revolution.

The ABC could have an ABC Education division with a free-to-air English and other languages channel, a technical and further education channel, a dedicated Australian-made children’s channel and other nation-building services which exploit this extraordinary and exciting technology. But the new chairman has not said “boo” on any important topic of strategic importance to the ABC since his appointment last year.

The current ABC board cannot be relied on to advocate the cause of independent public broadcasting. It is in an ideological and party-political bog. If it is out to destroy the so-called ABC culture; introducing advertising on the ABC should do the trick.
The current threat is insidious.

Our minds must be clear. Labor policy announced this month is to prohibit cybercast advertising, stop the party-political stack of the ABC board and restore the staff-elected director position in the ABC Act. This is most welcome in an institution which has been under sustained ideological attack and vilification for more than a decade. But it is also hard to forget that under the Hawke/Keating governments 1983-1996 the ABC was substantially defunded. Pressure must be maintained on any incoming Rudd Labor government to rebuild the ABC’s creative capacity and to protect the multicultural purpose of SBS.

In this regard, we need to know exactly what Kevin Rudd and Rupert Murdoch discussed at their New York meeting in April. Murdoch does not give photo ops to wannabe prime ministers without securing policy undertakings or, more euphemistically, understandings.

Murdoch would want extended indefinitely the outrageous regulatory protections for his 25 per cent share in the now highly profitable Foxtel pay-TV. He’d also be seeking ways in which he and James Packer could wrest the other 50 per cent of Foxtel away from Telstra without having to pay an extortionate price. He would also want the ABC to be further marginalised, just as public broadcasting is marginalised in the US.

Where would public broadcasting stand in the event of a change of government in Canberra? Please let us know, Mr Rudd. In the meantime, those who want the ABC to survive as an adequately funded, independent, mainstream and non-commercial public broadcaster will have to fight hard.

We must never get tired.

Quentin Dempster is a journalist, author and ABC broadcaster. In June 2006 he was elected to the ABC board as staff-elected director. The position was subsequently abolished by the Howard government. Due to format compatibility SaveOurSBS has not included the cartoons by Lindsay Foyle who is a pocket cartoonist for The Australian. The original story with the cartoons can be viewed at Walkley Magazine.

Your Comments:

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Please submit any material that you write in English only.

Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

DOWNLOAD the double sided sosbs-petition-brochure.pdf (76kb) here. Print it several times. Give it to your friends, retailers and others.

EMAIL the message below to all your friends and colleagues etc.

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Like most people, I am annoyed by the ads interrupting programs on SBS-TV. 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 ads. Your support is needed. I urge you to look at the web site below and tell all your friends to do so too.

www.SaveOurSBS.org and please click on the link there to sign the petition about advertisements on SBS and funding for our multicultural public broadcaster.

Also, anyone can become a ‘blogger’ and write material for the web site as well about SBS and the direction that public broadcasting is heading in. Details are on the web site at: www.SaveOurSBS.org which 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.

Copy, paste and send a copy of the relevant paragraphs of this to as many people as you know.

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Media Release: 

On Sunday 5 August 2007 Save Our SBS handed out the double sided sosbs-petition-brochure.pdf (76kb) to the general public at Melbourne’s Federation Square. More than 1000 people showed enthusiastic interest. A media release of the event is available here: MEDIA RELEASE: Launch Web Petition To Stop Ads On SBS – Fed Square Melb 5 August 2007 FINAL (1 page, 60kb).

How Did You Promote Us In Your Community?

You can tell us how you have helped to promote SaveOurSBS.org in your community. You may want to make a general observation or suggest other ways to promote us. Also read the FAQ What Else Can I Do? That page explains how you can speak on talkback radio, visit politicians, senators, and tell others in the community about us and what has happened to SBS. Please write your comments below.

A Comment may or may not be published for others to read. To write a Comment about a Post you first need to Login. To Login you need to be registered which you do by first clicking on the Register link in the far right column. You need to give your correct email address as a Password will be emailed to you so that when you return here, you are able to Login (and write your comment for publication below). During the registration process you will be asked for a Username. Your Username will be published as your ‘by-line’ if your comment is published. This site is moderated so there will be a delay before your Comment is published as a Post. We may also edit any contributions or not publish some at all.

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How would you like to see SaveOurSBS.org promoted?

How did you get to hear about us?

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SaveOurSBS

SaveOurSBS

Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

SaveOurSBS

FAQ What else can I do besides sign the petition?

Below are a series of suggestions that you can do to help save our SBS.

Tell all your friends and colleagues to visit www.SaveOurSBS.org (all lower case, no spaces) and sign the petition.

Send letters of less than 50 words to the Editor of your daily newspaper. Present your argument against SBS running ads clearly. Ask other readers of the newspaper to voice their objection and tell their local MP to stop SBS-TV interrupting programs for ads by changing the legislation.

Phone talkback radio and say that you do not like SBS-TV interrupting programs for commercials. Explain to the radio audience that it is against the spirit of public broadcasting to interrupt programs for commercial breaks. Tell the radio audience that there is nothing in the SBS Charter that says it should interrupt SBS-TV programs for commercial breaks because that’s the job of commercial TV. Explain that a change is needed in legislation to prevent SBS from interrupting programs on SBS-TV. Ask other listeners to phone in and say how they feel. Do they feel annoyed? Did they prefer it when the ads were between programs only and not in them?

Tell the audience the SBS website states they are allowed to interrupt programs for ‘natural breaks’ and SBS argue that this will improve the ‘viewer experience’ however you believe the breaks are an intrusion and not natural. They looked like they are ‘forced breaks’.

Ask the radio audience “Has running ads during the programs improved your viewer experience?”

“Are interruptions into program natural?”

Tell the radio talkback presenter that you don’t think interrupting SBS-TV programs will improve things and that SBS should think again if they think more people will watch just because they interrupt programs.

Tell the audience that “we can’t afford to lose this valued public broadcaster” and that people should let their politicians know about this and amend section 45 of the Special Broadcasting Service Act to stop SBS from getting away with their actions and ignoring public opinion.

Tell the radio talkback audience to write to the SBS Board and say that their decision is counter productive and decision making process flawed in the extreme and cite programs they have stopped watching because of the interruptions with ad breaks.

Phone talkback radio again and again and get all your friends to phone to. It’s a very strong medium.

Make an appointment to see your local Federal Member for Parliament and voice your objection. Follow up with a letter to the same effect. Keep phoning your MP to ask how much progress is being made. Ask others to sign the petition.

Read Help Promote Us In Your Community on this web site where you can copy and paste the words to insert into an email to send to all your friends to promote Save Our SBS. You can also download and print a double sided brochure then ask retail outlets if they will allow you to leave copies of the brochure to promote Save Our SBS.

Write to SBS. There are two ways to do this: informal or formal. Whichever method you use, your letter needs to be well written, with clear arguments that are well articulated and in a business-like-manner.

1) Informal Complaint

The Chairman and the Board of Directors of SBS,

SBS Locked Bag 028,

Crows Nest, NSW, 1585,

OR FAX: (02) 9430 3047.

OR SEND TWO SEPARATE EMAILS (even if they both have the same content)

comments@sbs.com.au;

complaints@sbs.com.au

If sending by email only send in text format NOT rich text or html. Do not include attachments except .PDF attachments. At the top of the email or letter, make certain that you write “TO: The Chairman and the Board of Directors of SBS”. If by email type in the Subject line “TO: The Chairman and the Board of Directors of SBS” too, as well as the body of the email. Ask for a reply. There is no legislative requirement for SBS to reply or even read an informal complaint.

2) Formal Complaint

Formal Complaints,

Special Broadcasting Service,

Locked Bag 028,

Crows Nest, NSW, 1585,

OR FAX: (02) 9430 3047.

OR EMAIL

formalcomplaints@sbs.com.au

A Formal Complaint needs to be in a particular format to carry any weight. SBS is required at law to read and respond to all Formal Complaints if they are identified as such (except if SBS considers your compliant to be frivolous or vexatious) and provided you include your name and street address, even if you send by email. However you must name at least one program (we suggest 5 to 10 programs) and the actual date and time they went to air. Your complaint must be received by SBS no more than 6 weeks from the date of broadcast of the named offending program. As your complaint is primarily about the advertisements interruptions into those programs, you should ask a series of questions to SBS so that they have something to respond to. We suggest 5 to 20 questions per program but they need to be well thought out and should be related to possible breaches of the Act, their Codes or their (advertising) Guidelines. Before doing this, please read Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991 (PDF) SBS Codes of Practice 2006 (PDF) (SBS) Guidelines For The Placement of Breaks in Television Programs September 2006 (PDF).

The SBS phone number is: 1800 500 727.

SBS state that a Formal Complaint should be addressed to their Office of Audience Affairs. However if your complaint contains issues that are outside the SBS Codes of Practice, then the Office of Audience Affairs may not deal with your complaint adequately or at all. To overcome that problem we do not recommend addressing your complaint to the Office of Audience Affairs. We do recommend addressing your complaint to Formal Complaints and commencing with the two paragraphs below.

Please pass this my Formal Compliant onto the appropriate person(s) within SBS who are able to adequately respond in writing to the points and the questions that I raise herein.

This complaint is made pursuant to the Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991; the SBS Codes of Practice 2006; and, the (SBS) Guidelines For The Placement of Breaks in Television Programs September 2006.

The body of your complaint may be a few pages and should refer to facts with references to evidence to support any allegations that you make. You may also wish to ask a series of questions on issues the that you discuss in your Formal Complaint.

As SBS is not required to respond to frivolous or vexatious complaints, it would be advisable to conclude your complaint with the “in good faith” sentence and other concluding paragraphs below.

I write in good faith and look forward to a detailed reply to all my questions and comments from SBS.

Please acknowledge that you have received this complaint on the day that you do receive it. Following your acknowledgement, I shall look forward to your detailed reply with answers to all my questions, at a later date.

Yours Faithfully,

If you feel you cannot do any or all of the above, you might be able to inspire someone else to do some or all of the above. Either way don’t forget to sign the petition yourself.

Save our SBS (SOSBS).

Links Section

Click on the links below (opens a new window on another web site) to obtain further information:

The regulator of broadcasting is The Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA)

Read what others have said about SBS having commercials

A short history of ads on SBS Portable Document File

Dear SBS: ad breaks just don’t hold water “The Age” February 10, 2007 by Michael Shmith senior writer at The Age. 25 years ago SBS began interrupting movies part way through for a promo break. That stopped due to public pressure.

A web-blogger

“Come Clean On Commercialisation” (mid year 2007) Quentin Dempster, ABC journalist, previews the policy debate about the future of public broadcasting for the Walkley Magazine.

http://barista.media2.org/index.php?s=sbs

Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

SaveOurSBS

]]> http://saveoursbs.org/archives/174/feed 0 http://saveoursbs.org/archives/175 http://saveoursbs.org/archives/175#comments Wed, 25 Jul 2007 06:19:33 +0000 Save Our SBS http://saveoursbs.org/archives/175 Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

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If SBS is allowed to keep interrupting TV programs for commercials, will that

Click here to read the full story . . .

Could SBS be saved as a result of the 2007 federal election?

Let us know what you think. Write your comments below.

A Comment may or may not be published for others to read. To write a Comment about a Post you first need to Login. To Login you need to be registered which you do by first clicking on the Register link in the far right column. You need to give your correct email address as a Password will be emailed to you so that when you return here, you are able to Login (and write your comment for publication below). During the registration process you will be asked for a Username. Your Username will be published as your ‘by-line’ if your comment is published. This site is moderated so there will be a delay before your Comment is published as a Post. We may also edit any contributions or not publish some at all.

Any work you submit will be taken as approval by you to publish that as your opinion about this topic on SaveOurSBS.org unless you specifically state that it is not to be published.

There is no cost to register or write a post. There is no payment for any material you submit for publication on SaveOurSBS.org

Do the political parties have any policies specifically in relation to SBS advertising and future government funding? What do you think of these policies? Do you even know what they are?

To post your reply comment or read what others have written about this topic and respond to their reply comment, see lower down this screen.

Please submit any material that you write in English only.

SaveOurSBS

If you do or did work at SBS or a close friend or member of your family is or was employed by SBS you may want to tell others about what has been happening inside SBS. You can tell your story here without fear of consequences if you write under an alias.

SOSBS wants to know is it true that many of the SBS staff have effectively been silenced by SBS and are now fearful of “speaking out”. Is that really the case?

Is it true that many of the staff at SBS were invited to reapply for their own jobs and that SBS has insisted that all staff now sign confidentiality agreements?

Is it also true that the staff are now specifically banned from talking publicly against the current SBS advertising policy of interrupting SBS-TV programs for ads?

The Posts in this Category are for people who are or were “inside” SBS to tell the truth to our online community. If there are any issues that effect SBS staff, please write your comments below.

A Comment may or may not be published for others to read. To write a Comment about a Post you first need to Login. To Login you need to be registered which you do by first clicking on the Register link in the far right column. You need to give your correct email address as a Password will be emailed to you so that when you return here, you are able to Login (and write your comment for publication below). During the registration process you will be asked for a Username. Your Username will be published as your ‘by-line’ if your comment is published. If you work at SBS and you do not want to be identified by your real name, then you should make up a fictitious name for your Username when you register. This site is moderated so there will be a delay before your Comment is published as a Post. We may also edit any contributions or not publish some at all.

Any work you submit will be taken as approval by you to publish that as your opinion about this topic on SaveOurSBS.org unless you specifically state that it is not to be published.

There is no cost to register or write a post. There is no payment for any material you submit for publication on SaveOurSBS.org

What is the effect of current policy on SBS staff? What exactly are the policies effecting SBS staff?

To post your reply comment or read what others have written about this topic and respond to their reply comment, see lower down this screen.

Please submit any material that you write in English only.

SaveOurSBS

Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

SaveOurSBS

What is the relevance of section 45 of the Special Broadcasting Service Act?

SBS is set up under an Act of parliament, the Special Broadcasting Service Act (1991).

Advertising and sponsorship is allowed under section 45 of the Act. This section has a problematic sub-section 45(2)(a) because it is that section that SBS are using to interrupt TV programs for commercial breaks. We do not believe that the original legislators intended that. In any case it is against the spirit of public broadcasting to interrupt programs on a public broadcaster for commercials. For more than 26 years since its inception in 1980 SBS-TV did not interrupt ‘regular’ programs.

The petition urges the Minister to immediately require that:-

1) The SBS Board cease disrupting all programs with advertisements.

The current Special Broadcasting Service Act (1991) says:

section 45 Advertising and Sponsorship (2) The SBS may only broadcast advertisements or sponsorship announcements: (a) that run during periods before programs commence, after programs end or during natural program breaks; and (b) that run in total for not more than 5 minutes in any hour of broadcasting.

Section 45 also states that station promotions do not form part of the 5 minutes per hour of advertising.

We do not know if the current Act might be amended by our politicians to prevent SBS from interrupting programs for advertisements by deleting these 5 words “or during natural programs breaks” from the problematic section 45(2)(a) of the Act as indicated below.

section 45 Advertising and Sponsorship (2) The SBS may only broadcast advertisements or sponsorship announcements: (a) that run during periods before programs commence, after programs end or during natural program breaks; and (b) that run in total for not more than 5 minutes in any hour of broadcasting.

However SOSBS believes that such a simple amendment does not address all the issues. It would be far preferable to have the Act amended to prohibit advertising and sponsorship on SBS completely.

In addition to urging the Minister to immediately require that the SBS Board cease disrupting all programs for advertisements, the petition calls on the Minister to protect the integrity and independence of SBS – from government and commercial influence – by:-

2) Amending the SBS Act to prohibit advertising and sponsorship on SBS;

3) Fully funding SBS so it is not dependent on commercial revenue nor supplementation from advertising; and,

4) Introducing a new system of appointments to the SBS Board that will result in Board members being appointed on the basis of merit with a strong commitment to multiculturalism and SBS independence, and, that the Board is independent from the government of the day and commercial influence.

We hope that all these changes may be achieved as outlined in the petition.

Your support is needed to effect change, please sign the petition

Is there any evidence that SBS have reinterpreted the Act?

SBS radio began in Melbourne and Sydney in the mid 1970’s. When SBS-TV was established in 1980 it was envisaged that the special public broadcaster with a multicultural focus would be publicly funded and independent, and, free from advertising, like the ABC. For many years there were no ads.

When the Special Broadcasting Service Act was enacted in 1991 SBS became a Corporation and the Act provided for SBS to carry advertising. Many in the community were concerned.

When the SBS Act was introduced in that year, typically SBS did not begin transmitting its programs on television until the late afternoon or early evening. Transmissions ceased around midnight. Most of the remainder of the day or night on SBS-TV was test pattern/music.

The legislation was worded with the above in mind and the reference in section 45(2)(a) to running advertisements “during periods before programs commence, [or] after programs end” meant, before all the programs for that evening commenced (NB programs is plural not singular, meaning that group of programs for that entire night) and “after programs end” (also plural) meant at the conclusion of that group of programs for that entire transmission night, i.e., in the period that followed the last program that night, i.e., before test pattern/music was resumed.

In 1991 the reference in section 45(2)(a) to running advertisements “during natural program breaks” meant the break between the end of one program and the start of the next program during the course of programs for that transmission night. The conclusion of a program was rightfully considered to be the only natural break. In this context program is singular, referring to the program just concluded, and breaks is plural because that refers to the many programs and their breaks on their conclusion, that would be aired in that transmission day/night.

Over time SBS has confused the legislation and misread it as if it were written in the singular. There is a crucial difference.

However being written as it is, section 45(2)(a) means that SBS is really only allowed to run a break at the start of the transmission day “before programs commence” and between programs only as that is the “natural break” i.e., “during natural program breaks”. Otherwise SBS is required to wait until the end of the transmission day/night “after programs [plural] end”.

We believe that SBS have now wrongly reinterpreted the Act, believing that they are allowed to have a commercial break in a program according to a set of criteria that SBS has determined rather than legislation. The legislation does not discuss the criteria that SBS have now adopted to determine “natural breaks”. In fact the situation is pretty bad because SBS now place breaks in programs and in movies made for cinema that are screened on SBS that were obviously never even scripted nor intended to be broken into for commercial breaks.

The reason that the legislation does not define a natural break is because when the legislation was drafted it was understood that a “natural break” was the end of a program, or before the next program commenced. Although the legislation does not define a natural break the SBS Codes of Practice 2006; and, the (SBS) Guidelines For The Placement of Breaks in Television Programs September 2006 give their own (SBS) definition, as decided by SBS. The SBS self determined definition could and should be disputed.

In our opinion SBS now read the legislation wrongly, and differently from what was intended in 1991. They have reinterpreted the Act.

Where can I find out more about SBS law and the ‘rules’ about SBS advertising?

The links below may prove useful should you wish to your own research. Each link opens a new window on another web site.

Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991 Portable Document File

SBS Codes of Practice 2006 Portable Document File

(SBS) Guidelines For The Placement of Breaks in Television Programs September 2006 Portable Document File

The regulator of broadcasting is The Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA)

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]]> http://saveoursbs.org/archives/172/feed 0 http://saveoursbs.org/archives/170 http://saveoursbs.org/archives/170#comments Tue, 08 May 2007 15:32:13 +0000 Save Our SBS http://saveoursbs.org/archives/170 Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

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About the Save Our SBS Petition

An on-line petition

Click here to read the full story . . .

Most Contributors write elsewhere and are invited by SOSBS to do so here. If you are a writer and would like to become a regular Contributor, please let us know via email on the ‘Contact Us’ page. Generally you need to have had at least one article published elsewhere or written Comments and had your Comments published as a Post on SOSBS.

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You can tell us your opinion below. You may want to make a general observation or write about a specific program. Please write your comments below.

A Comment may or may not be published for others to read. To write a Comment about a Post you first need to Login. To Login you need to be registered which you do by first clicking on the Register link in the far right column. You need to give your correct email address as a Password will be emailed to you so that when you return here, you are able to Login (and write your comment for publication below). During the registration process you will be asked for a Username. Your Username will be published as your ‘by-line’ if your comment is published. This site is moderated so there will be a delay before your Comment is published as a Post. We may also edit any contributions or not publish some at all.

Any work you submit will be taken as approval by you to publish that as your opinion about this topic on SaveOurSBS.org unless you specifically state that it is not to be published.

There is no cost to register or write a post. There is no payment for any material you submit for publication on SaveOurSBS.org

What do you think about SBS radio?

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Please submit any material that you write in English only.

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Other than overseas News programs in languages other than English (LOTE), we have had problems finding programs on SBS that are not interrupted for ad breaks. If you know of any, please write your comments below.

A Comment may or may not be published for others to read. To write a Comment about a Post you first need to Login. To Login you need to be registered which you do by first clicking on the Register link in the far right column. You need to give your correct email address as a Password will be emailed to you so that when you return here, you are able to Login (and write your comment for publication below). During the registration process you will be asked for a Username. Your Username will be published as your ‘by-line’ if your comment is published. This site is moderated so there will be a delay before your Comment is published as a Post. We may also edit any contributions or not publish some at all.

Any work you submit will be taken as approval by you to publish that as your opinion about this topic on SaveOurSBS.org unless you specifically state that it is not to be published.

There is no cost to register or write a post. There is no payment for any material you submit for publication on SaveOurSBS.org

Which programs were not interrupted for any ad breaks on SBS-TV?

To post your reply comment or read what others have written about this topic and respond to their reply comment, see lower down this screen.

Please submit any material that you write in English only.

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Many viewers think that most of the ad breaks look like they are ‘forced’ into the program. By comparison some programs are of course scripted for commercial breaks and they are usually seen on commercial television. However the purpose here is to tell of programs that were never intended to have breaks for commercials. An example might be a BBC program or a cinema release movie screened on SBS-TV. If you know of any specific program like that, please write your comments below.

A Comment may or may not be published for others to read. To write a Comment about a Post you first need to Login. To Login you need to be registered which you do by first clicking on the Register link in the far right column. You need to give your correct email address as a Password will be emailed to you so that when you return here, you are able to Login (and write your comment for publication below). During the registration process you will be asked for a Username. Your Username will be published as your ‘by-line’ if your comment is published. This site is moderated so there will be a delay before your Comment is published as a Post. We may also edit any contributions or not publish some at all.

Any work you submit will be taken as approval by you to publish that as your opinion about this topic on SaveOurSBS.org unless you specifically state that it is not to be published.

There is no cost to register or write a post. There is no payment for any material you submit for publication on SaveOurSBS.org

Which programs were un-naturally interrupted for ‘forced’ ad breaks on SBS-TV?

To post your reply comment or read what others have written about this topic and respond to their reply comment, see lower down this screen.

Please submit any material that you write in English only.

SaveOurSBS

Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

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What’s wrong with interrupting programs on SBS-TV for commercial breaks?

Below are some frequently asked questions about the petition.

It is very annoying to watch any program that is interrupted for anything, least of all commercials. Interrupting programs for commercials destroys the continuity of the program and disrupts the viewing experience. However that is only part of the problem when SBS-TV interrupts programs.

Interruptions are disrespectful to the viewer and to the program maker too.

When relying on commercials for revenue or even to subsidise other income, the quality of all programs will over time diminish. The temptation to please the sponsor may become too great to ignore. Advertisers will be given priority over viewers and with news and information type programs the potential to be influenced by the ‘hand that feeds you,’ i.e., the advertisers, is a real danger.

“The commercialisation of News distorts the truth.”

No ads in news and current affairs programs.

Why not just ask SBS to voluntarily reverse its decision of interrupting programs for commercials, to return to their former way of doing things: No ads in ‘regular’ programs but occasionally a few ads in some really big overseas sports programs?

SBS will get to hear about the petition too.

Many people have complained to SBS about its decision to interrupt programs for commercial breaks. Many people have asked SBS to reverse its current position and to return to the former way of presenting programs, with no ad breaks into programs. SBS have given absolutely no hint that they will even consider going back to their former way of doing things. However the people in charge today at SBS are not the same people who were in charge back in 1991 when the Special Broadcasting Service Act came into force. The previous people were committed to the notion of public broadcasting. Some people have asked the question: Is the current Board and management of SBS committed to the idea of public broadcasting? Do they even understand what public broadcasting really means?

SBS is aware of the public’s distaste for seeing their programs being interrupted for commercial breaks. They could have voluntarily reversed their current policy but have not.

Given the current attitude of SBS, legislative change is the only way that SBS will stop interrupting programs for commercial breaks.

We need legislative change to achieve this. Please sign the petition.

Why not just wait and see what happens? Why sign a petition now?

If you do nothing now, it will get worse.

Most public broadcasters all over the world originally had no commercials but many now do. Australia and the UK are among the few remaining countries that still have public broadcasters either with no ads (such as our ABC or Britain’s BBC) or no ads interrupting regular programs as did SBS until late 2006.

New Zealand lost its public broadcaster to commercials many years ago. The NZBC changed its name many times and so did the related Acts of Parliament that the broadcaster operated under. The NZBC was once a great public broadcaster, a bit like our ABC. Today the New Zealand broadcaster is fully commercial. Many people have said the television service is now unwatchable, due to ad break interruptions. When the decision was made many years ago to ‘commercialise’ the NZBC, to interrupt the programs for commercial breaks, few people objected. People just sat back, felt powerless to do anything and lost their public broadcaster, forever.

In more recent years the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was also ‘commercialised’. It took a few years to stir the public into action. Very recently the public asked the Canadian parliament to legislate to put things back to the way they used to be with no commercials. However it was too late. The request to have no commercials was made to a newly elected conservative government. The response: Why would we want to do that? CBC used to cost us millions. Now it runs itself… from commercials…

SBS is in danger of going down a similar path to the above. By SBS deciding to interrupt programs for commercial breaks, their funding from government will gradually decrease and SBS will have to rely more heavily on advertising than before. By then, you, the viewer, will not have a choice. You now do. However, only if you voice your objection now.

Please sign the petition.

What is the difference between a community broadcaster, a commercial station and a public broadcaster?

SBS is a public, national broadcaster and does not have a community or commercial broadcast licence. The ABC is also a public broadcaster.

Community broadcasters are not-for-profit organisations. They are operated and funded by their local communities. They are not funded by the government and run at a very ‘grass roots’ level. A few stations employ some people and most rely heavily on volunteers.

Most enterprises have a product. Mainstream television is no different.

SEVEN, NINE & TEN are licensed as commercial stations.

Commercial TV seeks to run at a profit. Their Shareholders demand that. To run at a profit they need to sell their product to a buyer. The product to be sold is the viewer. The commercial TV station introduces or sells their viewers to the advertisers. The advertisers are the client of the TV station. The programs are merely a catalyst, a draw card to get you into the business of the advertiser. The commercial TV station does not actually care about you. You are simply their product to be sold by the TV station to their client, the advertisers.

How does this happen?

Part of the equation is that the TV station that runs commercials sells the air-time in the program to the advertiser. The advertiser pays big money to the TV station to be sure that you, the viewer, then buy from the advertiser.

The TV station that runs commercials must consider the advertiser first, last and always. To do otherwise will mean that it might fail in its attempt to sell its product (you, the viewer) to their client (the advertiser).

What about public TV?

Public TV also has a product. If there is no advertiser for the program, the product is the actual program content. However when a public broadcaster, like SBS, starts to interrupt programs for commercial breaks, the whole relationship changes. Even though SBS (currently) has no Shareholders (just tax payers who fund it via government) the goal of interrupting programs for commercials becomes identical to that of commercial TV. You the viewer of SBS (now with commercials in program) by definition become merely a product to be sold by SBS to their advertisers. For this reason alone, the idea of a public broadcaster interrupting programs for commercial breaks is against the spirit of public broadcasting. It conflicts with the reason for even having the broadcaster publicly owned by tax-payers. Therein lies a real danger and a threat to SBS and to public broadcasting in general.

To protect against this threat we need legislative change. Sign the petition.

Should SBS be allowed to put ads in sport?

In the past SBS-TV did place some commercials in some special event programs taken on direct relay from an overseas broadcaster and some of the very big live sport events. When this first occurred the placement of the ads was few and far between. Over the years the trend to run more ads, more often in the sports shows increased. Some might argue that these programs paid for themselves. We do not have any evidence to confirm that. In their early days, under a different Board and management, SBS acted responsibly and made certain that their ‘regular’ programs were never interrupted, even if sporting programs were rarely interrupted. That is no longer the case. What commenced as a service to a particular audience perhaps at some point changed to a means to try and raise money for the station. Hence the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) was thought by some to stand for the Soccer Broadcasting Service.

Perhaps if SBS had not made the decision to interrupt ‘regular’ programs for commercial breaks commencing late 2006, and had continued the way it was, then Save Our SBS and the petition would be less likely to get up and running.

By its recent actions of December 2006 and onwards, it is the opinion of many that the current Board and management of SBS has now misunderstood the whole notion of public broadcasting and is acting against the spirit of their Charter. SBS disagrees.

It is almost impossible to word legislation with exceptions to the rule. In any case even having ads in sport conflicts with the notion of what a public broadcaster should be.

It would be very, very difficult to word legislation that states that advertisements are only allowed between programs however during some special sports shows the program could occasionally be interrupted for a commercial break in special places, like ‘after a goal is scored’ etc. Legislation with exceptions to the rule are clumsy and may even fail to achieve the desired outcome. In any case placing commercials in sports programs begins to shift the emphasis away from providing a sports service for that community to one of chasing a dollar which conflicts with the purpose of public broadcasting. That is the role of a commercial TV station.

Make certain that SBS never becomes a commercial TV station.

Protect public broadcasting and strengthen SBS. Please sign the petition.

Why have any ads on SBS at all? Isn’t it against the spirit of public broadcasting to have advertising (even if the ads are placed between programs only)?

We do not support the notion of having any form of commercial sponsorship on any public broadcaster, including SBS. Our ultimate goal is for SBS to not supplement its revenue from advertising at all. The legislation that the ABC operates under prohibits them from broadcasting advertisements on radio or television. Unfortunately the legislation that SBS operates under does allow limited advertising: “5 minutes per hour”. It would have been preferable if the SBS legislation had been written differently.

We want SBS to be fully and properly funded by government as an independent public broadcaster free of all commercial advertising and sponsorship. To achieve this will take a lot of hard work. It may take many years. The petition calls on the Minister to urge the SBS Board to stop interrupting programs on SBS for advertisements. This might be considered a transitional stage before advertisements are phased out completely (achieved by legislative change and proper government funding, referred to in the petition).

Of course it is by no means an ideal scenario that in the short term SBS will rely on some money from sponsorship but this may be the only way to eventually achieve our final goal of banning advertising on SBS altogether. When advertisements are placed between programs only, there is a certain disconnection from the program itself. However we acknowledge that this is not perfect but it’s better than interrupting the program for ads.

However we are calling for no ads at all on SBS and that SBS be fully funded by government.

Support amendments to the legislation. Please sign the petition.

Sign the petition to protect SBS, stop the ads and maintain our multicultural public broadcaster funded fully by government. Click http://petition.saveoursbs.org and wait while you are redirected to the petition server.

SaveOurSBS

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