Cut the cable: Lobby group tells SBS to withdraw from Foxtel
Updated: Save our SBS says broadcaster could save $5m a year by cutting itself off to Foxtel subscribers.
- Published by David Knox
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SBS should disconnect from Foxtel to help make up its $28.5m funding hole, according to lobby group Save our SBS.
The broadcaster could save $5m a year in carriage fees it pays to Foxtel, if it withdrew from the Pay TV service says Save Our SBS President Steve Aujard and campaigner Quentin Dempster.
They refer to a cost saving recommended in The Lewis efficiency review as a solution to the financial crisis facing the broadcaster after the Senate rejected increasing primetime ads.
“SBS said that there were no more ‘back office’ efficiencies and is considering contingency plans which it says will impact on programs and services,” Save our SBS said in a statement.
“We dispute this claim. The Lewis efficiency review of the ABC and SBS clearly identified charges to Foxtel to carry all SBS content.
“The communications committee public inquiry Hansard suggests that SBS pays Foxtel up to $5m each year i.e., $25m over five years or almost the full amount that SBS claimed it would have raised had the Bill to increase advertising passed. Several million dollars a year to Foxtel is a waste of taxpayers money simply to retransmit SBS content that is otherwise freely available via an ordinary antenna.
“SBS should now disconnect Foxtel not sack staff nor locally made programs. If SBS proceeds to downsize staff or commissioned content as a first response to the budgetary haircut, SBS supporters and the Australian taxpayers who fund it, would be entitled to protest long and loud.”
The lobby group says audiences “could easily access SBS channels and programs through their free-to-air digital antennas.”
But with around a third of Australian households having Foxtel subscription, Save our SBS provides no evidence to indicate how many Foxtel viewers switch between Foxtel platform and non-subscription channels. Anecdotal evidence suggests Foxtel subscribers view their Free to Air channels entirely through the Foxtel platform, shunning those that are unavailable. Such a move could effectively shut out SBS to up to 30% of Australian homes, and potentially impact their remaining sponsorship opportunities.
The recommendations, which refer to a $28.5m loss over five years (and not four years as quoted by managing director Michael Ebeid), also omits to reference its key campaigner Margaret Pomeranz.
Pomeranz, a former SBS presenter, is now a presenter on Foxtel Arts.
Update: TV Tonight understands the carriage fee is less than half the figure claimed.
25 Responses
Wasting five million a year to retransmit its signal via Foxtel is a waste of taxpayers money . I have never watched free to air channels on pay TV .and even if some pay TV subscribers did watch SBS via Foxtel the audience would be so small it could never justify the five million dollar price tag .its free TV stop wasting taxpayer money SBS .this is a luxury not a necessity .
There’s a diversity of options with cable / satellite TV and as subscribers don’t switch often to DTV once connected, SBS maintaining it’s presence on Fox would be a valid commercial decision especially with it’s association with the World Movies channel.
We have Foxtel via satellite, and watch via the IQ 100% of the time. The FTA channels we watch are only the ABC1, ABC24, SBS and SBS2. The others may as well not exist.
We also have an aerial, for a TV in another room, but that TV is only ever used to watch DVDs these days.
Any really good programs on SBS (e.g. Vikings, Orphan Black) are recorded to the IQ, copied to a DVD, and ads removed before viewing. That’s how much I hate programs being interrupted by rubbish ads!
I really think that if SBS were not on the Foxtel IQ, we’d learn to live without it.
We have foxtel satellite and an arial we never watch FTA via aerial i just wish all FTA stations were on FTA they would surely make up the $5m they pay ito get on the satellite if SBS pulled the plug surely they would loose out
Whoops just realised my mistake in my last comment I should have said that I wish all FTA channels were on foxtel
I’m obviously completely out of touch coz I never realised people with Foxtel may not actually already have access to FTA, nor that the numbers of such people might even be of any significance.
Strangely, I think you will find the $5 million spent by SBS for Foxtel carriage is for satellite uplink costs for Foxtel satellite viewers only. To my knowledge if SBS was to drop this payment, it would only affect Foxtel satellite viewers. Foxtel cable viewers would not be affected as SBS channels would still be available via cable. All depends when the SBS contract with Foxtel and the uplink provider Optus expires, think it is a 5 year contract that expires very soon, the ABC re-signed theirs with Foxtel/Optus more recently than SBS. Anyway, I can’t see SBS with its dependence on commercials killing off a chunk of its audience reach, advertisers would demand a drop in payments to SBS wouldn’t they?
What a strange proposal by Save Our SBS this is. Yes, the terrestrial reception of SBS is far better than it once was (especially after the analogue switchoff and digital restack, etc). Yes, the iQ3 means that terrestrial rebroadcasts aren’t as highly important as they once were. And yes, it’s highly likely that the numbers of Foxtel subscribers who watch SBS are considerably lower compared to the numbers of FTA-only homes that watch SBS, but even so I think that SBS will lose viewers if it’s services were to be pulled off Foxtel.
Realistically, I’m sure that quite a large majority of Foxtel subscribers are watching FTA stations via Foxtel. If there’s a FTA channel that’s not on Foxtel, it’s treated as if it doesn’t exist by Foxtel subscribers from my experience.
I watch a lot of SBS online through SBSOnDemand….but live for things like cycling tours….I do not have Foxtel…
If the proposed solution goes ahead then the people can easily watch SBS content online at SBSOnDemand. They too have ads so it wouldn’t really be any different. Also because SBS is a non for profit company they shouldn’t be worried about the amount of money they make, unlike the commercial networks for whome money generated from online ads would not be enough.
Not a realistic understanding. The advertising subsidises diminished funding for the broadcaster (now even lower). Revenue from advertising goes back into creating local content. The position by SBS for increasing primetime ads was to maintain local production and jobs.
This is just another example of a lobby group making up a policy position based on assumptions rather than evidence. Something that unfortunately happens way too often but somehow I had expected better from Save our SBS.
They clearly show that they have no understanding about how the majority of Foxtel viewers watch FTA TV. However it’s also an assumption to say that potentially SBS could lose 30% of its audience. I have a suspicion that a smaller percentage of Foxtel viewers watch SBS than those without Foxtel but, without comparing the data, that is also an assumption.
Things are a little more complicated than Save our SBS would like to think.
Doesn’t sound like a good idea, but 5 million is way to much for a year. I wonder how much they make from views from Austar. Surely there is better ways to cut prices. Maybe the top dogs should drop there wages, Sony did this a few years ago and it worked well, I think the top 5% got paid one million less, or even sell some shows
They make nothing from Austar given it no longer exists.
I mean foxtel, our plan is still under Austar that’s why I called it that, no big deal, geez
As someone who doesn’t have a free to air antenna connected to their home (and can’t add one as it’s a rental), it would mean the end of SBS for me if it was to leave Foxtel. It would be a shame as there’s some quality programming at SBS. There is always the website, of course, but my connection can be iffy at times which doesn’t help streaming. It also doesn’t help with live sporting coverage such as the Tour de France which they do brilliantly and which I would miss greatly..
Time to call in the beancounters. How many Foxtel customers actually watch SBS without using an aerial and how much revenue is at stake? Rupert owns part of Foxtel and has the ear of the Govt. so the possible loss of a revenue stream would certainly create some heated exchanges. The reception of SBS has improved dramatically since the 0/28 days so “cutting the cable” should be easy. By re-arranging it’s schedules SBS could create an empty channel suitable for leasing out to a third party. An efficiency dividend?
You could count on one hand the amount of Foxtel customers who watch SBS with their aerial. Foxtel viewers hate leaving the platform to access FTA. Many do not even have a traditional aerial connected. You could be cutting yourself off to 30% of homes.
Correct! I wouldnt even know how to switch my telly from Foxtel input to antennae input.
Also, I can’t tell you the number of fascinating documentaries and other programs on SBS Ive come across by flicking through the Foxtel EPG.
Reception has improved in the main metros due to the digital deals by broadcasters: broadcast all off the one array and now with a DTV channel between 7 and 9, SBS have dealt themselves in the plumb position.
The more that internet penetration improves, the less important carriage on pay TV will be. It is baffling that Australian FTAs fell for paying to be carried, doesn’t work that way in many countries.
The Coalition is so stingy they can’t even give an extra $30m or so to SBS to solve the problem. That amount is peanuts for the Federal Govt. They waste a lot more on the religious indoctrination program they have set up.
As a Foxtel satelite subscriber in Sydney, I really only watch channels through Foxtel, so if SBS wasn’t available through Foxtel I won’t be watching SBS anymore. Besides, my antenna won’t give a consistent signal for ABC, SBS or Ten.
With pretty much everyone having a PVR and the new IQ3 having a single antenna feed for FTA, it would make best sense to cut the Foxtel retransmission fee as early as possible. It is vary rare for me, and most people I know to watch any show live when it can be watched late on timeslip or the next day.
“Save Our SBS”? What a misnomer that is. First they campaign against the plan that actually would help fund the broadcaster, then they suggest limiting the viewers by cutting the Foxtel connection. These people should not be listened to when it comes to plans designed to actually save SBS.
Would be interesting to see what channel viewership is like for those who have Foxtel Satellite in WA, given the lack of commercial FTA channels. Might give an indication on the effect it would have on SBS