ArticlesHere are some recent events in Australian TV History
June, 2006: Channel 9 screens Penn & Teller‘s excellent show Bullshit!.
It is quite shocking that this would appear on a commercial free-to-air TV channel. The only free-to-air channel that would normally touch a show like this is good ole national broadcaster SBS that doesn’t seem so concerned with petty issues about swearing.
8 October, 2006: Super Size Me debuts on Australian network TV.
I was quite sure that, as this show savagely attacks McDonald’s, a major TV advertiser, there was no question that it could only be shown on a national broadcasting, like SBS or ABC. But no, it is Channel 10 that brings this show to our screens. Again, I am quite shocked.
9 October, 2006: Fifteen years after SBS first accepted sponsorship for showing adverts between shows (Ref), it introduces adverts in the middle of shows, including in South Park and Myth Busters.
Independence (from the mainstream and from sponsors), relaxed moral standards, no interruptions for adverts, and soccer. These are the four strengths of SBS. However, commercial stations have shown they can be the equal in three of those, and I don’t like watching soccer on TV.
I’ll put it bluntly. SBS has jumped the shark.
[Updated to correct broken links and minor factual errors.]
Comment by Alastair on January 22, 2007
Tonight’s SBS news had two newsreaders! And it was 1 hour long! With adbreaks! It’s a Sharksplosion!!!1!one!!!
Not that it should matter, but one of the newsreaders was Stan Grant. Was it “Today Tonight” that he used to host? Some rubbish like that. I have an irrational dislike of him as a result. That he should be allowed to share the news desk with the esteemed Mark Kostakidis is an insult to newsreaders everywhere! (Told you it was irrational).