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Programming: Public broadcasters: SBS: Hours broadcast

Hours of local and imported programming broadcast by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS)

Next update December 2010

2008/09 | 2004/05–2007/08 | 2000/01–2003/04 | 1996/97–1999/00

2008/09

These tables show the number of hours of local and imported programming broadcast annually by the SBS in each program category, and the share this represents of total hours broadcast.

On 1 June 2009, SBS Television’s main channel was renamed SBS ONE, and SBS TWO – a digital-only, free-to-air channel – began broadcasting.

The largest share of broadcast hours on SBS ONE in 2008/09 went to imported news/current affairs (35 per cent), followed by imported movies (11.9 per cent), imported documentaries (10.9 per cent) and local news/current affairs (9.9 per cent), which represented the largest share of local programming.

Type of programming¹	No. hours broadcast
	2008/09
	SBS ONE		SBS TWO
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Animation/shorts	15	66
Comedy²	29	90
Documentary	286	753	0	20
Drama²	23	305	0	127
Entertainment	188	170
Movies	34	825
News/current affairs³	685	2,431	35	313
Short films/fillers			7	0
Sport⁴	651	134	4	0
Other⁵	252	0	87	0
Total	2,163	4,774	133	460

Type of programming¹	Share of total hours broadcast
	2008/09
	SBS ONE		SBS TWO
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Animation/shorts	0.2%	1.0%
Comedy²	0.4%	1.3%
Documentary	4.1%	10.9%	0.0%	3.4%
Drama²	0.3%	4.4%	0.0%	21.4%
Entertainment	2.7%	2.5%
Movies	0.5%	11.9%
News/current affairs³	9.9%	35.0%	5.9%	52.8%
Short films/fillers			1.2%	0.0%
Sport⁴	9.4%	1.9%	0.7%	0.0%
Other⁵	3.6%	0.0%	14.7%	0.0%
Total	31.2%	68.8%	22.4%	77.6%

Source: Compiled by Screen Australia from Special Broadcasting Service Corporation annual reports.

Notes:
Table shows all programming hours broadcast except for advertisements, promotions or community service announcements. Some related categories reported by SBS have been combined by Screen Australia to aid annual comparisons.
Includes repeats.
1. Over the years some categories identified by SBS have been changed, added or dropped. Blank cells in the table indicate where a category has been dropped, or has not yet begun.
2. Comedy and drama were reported as a single category in 2004/05.
3. News and current affairs were reported as a single category from 2002/03 up to, and including, 2006/07.
4. Local sport includes all sport produced by SBS covering Australian events and international events where a significant proportion of the event is produced by SBS (commentary team, analysis, journalists) and the program is tailored for an Australian audience. In previous years only Australian-based events and SBS sport programs such as The World Game were reported under local. In 2008/09, 139 hours of first-release Australian-based events and SBS sport programs were broadcast (6 hours repeat).
5. Comprises the weather reports known as WeatherWatch, except for WeatherWatch Overnight.

2004/05–2007/08

Type of programming¹	No. hours broadcast
	2004/05		2005/06		2006/07		2007/08
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Animation	9	17	9	24	11	6	2	20
Arts	17	100	27	100	27	128	13	88
Documentaries, incl. series	227	720	287	547	359	720	363	806
Drama and comedy, incl. series²	55	249
Drama²			18	211	18	252	32	286
Comedy²			17	48	17	86	6	55
Education	57	0	21	0	21	1	21	0
Entertainment series			86	0	46	0	111	0
Factual ent.	59	0	132	56	11	0
Movies/features	6	975	12	918	18	907	13	843
News and current affairs³	422	2,434	487	2,380	558	2,477
News³							433	2,477
Current affairs³							229	0
Performance, incl. dance, opera, variety	10	34	2	45	1	88	3	38
Shorts, incl. fillers	346	48	371	43	280	54	49	51
Sport⁴	462	579	537	604	211	496	162	470
Other⁵							271	0
Total	1,670	5,156	2,006	4,976	1,586	5,220	1,708	5,133

Type of programming¹	Share of total hours broadcast
	2004/05		2005/06		2006/07		2007/08
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Animation	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%	0.3%	0.2%	0.1%	<0.1%	0.3%
Arts	0.2%	0.2%	0.4%	1.4%	0.4%	1.9%	0.2%	1.3%
Documentaries, incl. series	3.3%	10.5%	4.1%	7.8%	5.3%	10.6%	5.3%	11.8%
Drama and comedy, incl. series²	0.8%	3.6%
Drama²			0.3%	3.0%	0.3%	3.7%	0.5%	4.2%
Comedy²			0.2%	0.7%	0.2%	1.3%	<0.1%	0.8%
Education	0.8%	0%	0.3%	0%	0.3%	<0.1%	0.3%	0%
Entertainment series			1.2%	0%	0.7%	0%	1.6%	0%
Factual ent.	0.9%	0%	1.9%	0.8%	0.2%	0%
Movies/features	0.1%	14.3%	0.2%	13.1%	0.3%	13.3%	0.2%	12.3%
News and current affairs³	6.2%	35.7%	7.0%	34.1%	8.2%	36.4%
News³							6.3%	36.2%
Current affairs³							3.3%	0%
Performance, incl. dance, opera, variety	0.1%	0.5%	<0.1%	0.6%	<0.1%	1.3%	<0.1%	0.6%
Shorts, incl. fillers	5.1%	0.7%	5.3%	0.6%	4.1%	0.8%	0.7%	0.7%
Sport⁴	6.8%	8.5%	7.7%	8.7%	3.1%	7.3%	2.4%	6.9%
Other⁵							4.0%	0%
Total	24.5%	75.5%	28.7%	71.3%	23.3%	76.7%	25.0%	75.0%

Source: Compiled by Screen Australia from Special Broadcasting Service Corporation annual reports.

2000/01–2003/04

Type of programming¹	No. hours broadcast
	2000/01		2001/02		2002/03		2003/04
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Animation	1	23	19	25	24	29	5	15
Arts					11	139	17	123
Cooking	16	52	13	3	7	4	2	24
Documentaries, incl. series	165	641	190	766	215	727	174	641
Drama and comedy²	44	145
Drama²			45	130	11	195	17	196
Comedy²			13	49	37	30	17	52
Education	124	0	121	0	109	0	146	0
Magazine	82	0	86	0	44	10	56	0
Movies/features	16	1,415	5	1,219	20	1,185	10	1,168
Music	10	10	13	9
News and current affairs					505	2,784	415	2,471
News³	272	2,297	291	2,247
Current affairs³	157	0	163	0
Performance, incl. dance, opera, variety	4	88	1	92	0	1	4	26
Shorts, incl. fillers	12	69	>1	57	35	46	378	58
Specials	5	34	7	0
Sport⁴	394	357	1,057	39	771	91	478	476
Total	1,290	5,129	2,022	4,635	1,787	5,242	1,718	5,248

Type of programming¹	Share of total hours broadcast
	2000/01		2001/02		2002/03		2003/04
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Animation	<0.1%	0.4%	0.3%	0.4%	0.3%	0.4%	0.1%	0.2%
Arts					0.2%	2.0%	0.2%	1.8%
Cooking	0.2%	0.8%	0.2%	<0.1%	0.1%	<0.1%	<0.1%	0.3%
Documentaries, incl. series	2.6%	10.0%	2.9%	11.5%	3.1%	10.3%	2.5%	9.2%
Drama and comedy, incl. seres²	0.7%	2.3%
Drama²			0.7%	1.9%	0.2%	2.8%	0.2%	2.8%
Comedy²			0.2%	0.7%	0.5%	0.4%	0.2%	0.7%
Education	1.9%	0%	1.8%	0%	1.6%	0%	2.1%	0%
Magazine	1.3%	0%	1.3%	0%	0.6%	0.2%	0.8%	0%
Movies/features	0.2%	22.0%	0.1%	18.3%	0.3%	16.9%	0.1%	16.8%
Music	<0.1%	0.2%	0.2%	0.1%
News and current affairs					7.2%	39.6%	6.0%	35.5%
News³	4.2%	35.8%	4.4%	33.8%
Current affairs³	2.4%	0%	2.4%	0%
Performance, incl. dance, opera, variety	0.1%	1.4%	<0.1%	1.4%	0%	<0.1%	0.1%	0.4%
Shorts, incl. fillers	0.2%	1.1%	<0.1%	0.9%	0.5%	0.7%	5.4%	0.8%
Specials	0.1%	0.5%	0.1%	0%
Sport⁴	6.1%	5.6%	15.9%	0.6%	11.0%	1.3%	6.9%	6.8%
Total	20.1%	79.9%	30.4%	69.6%	25.4%	74.6%	24.7%	75.3%

Source: Compiled by Screen Australia from Special Broadcasting Service Corporation annual reports.

1996/97–1999/00

Type of programming¹	No. hours broadcast
	1996/97		1997/98		1998/99		1999/00
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Animation			0.1	2.4	0	26.4	1.7	5.7
Children’s	0.7	12.1			1.8	3.0
Cooking	0	38.6	0	41.5	3.9	31.7	5.6	31.9
Current affairs	142.3	0	178.6	0	141.7	0	159.4	0
Documentaries, incl. series	88.2	755.2	94.0	656.1	106.2	671.3	159.9	690.0
Drama and comedy, incl. series²	5.0	307.5	2.0	218.2
Drama²					11.8	95.9	31.5	140.0
Comedy²					2.4	25.1	9.7	45.4
Education	570.4	0	187.2	0	108.8	0	136.6	0
Magazine	94.2	0	91.8	0	98.1	0	137.2	0
Movies	0	1,439.6	1.8	1,563.3	3.2	1412.6	2.9	1,430.4
Music	1.8	5.9	1.0	10.4	31.5	3.7	6.0	4.5
News	161.6	1,759.3	223.5	1949.2	236	2124.2	275.4	2,345.6
Performance, incl. opera, dance	0	13.1	0	7.5	0	25.4	0	80.8
Shorts, incl. Eat Carpet, fillers	0.5	74.2	0.1	65.8	2	61.2	4.6	68.4
Specials	8.7	64.8	7.6	75.6	9.4	56.6	16.3	28.4
Sport³	418.0	0	733.0	0	665.78	0	711.3	0
Total	1,491.2	4,470.2	1,520.5	4,590.1	1422.6	4537.1	1,658.1	4,871.0

Type of programming¹	Share of total hours broadcast
	1996/97		1997/98		1998/99		1999/00
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Animation			<0.1%	<0.1%		0.5%	<0.1%	0.1%
Children’s	<0.1%	0.2%			<0.1%	0.1%
Cooking	0%	0.6%	0%	0.7%	0.1%	0.5%	0.1%	0.5%
Current affairs	2.4%	0%	2.9%	0%	2.5%	0%	2.4%	0%
Documentaries, incl. series	1.5%	12.7%	1.5%	10.7%	1.8%	11.1%	2.4%	10.6%
Drama and comedy, incl. series²	0.1%	5.2%	<0.1%	3.6%
Drama²					0.2%	1.5%	0.5%	2.1%
Comedy²					<0.1%	0.4%	0.1%	0.7%
Education	9.6%	0%	3.1%	0%	1.9%	0%	2.1%	0%
Magazine	1.6%	0%	1.5%	0%	1.8%	0%	2.1%	0%
Movies	0%	24.1%	<0.1%	25.6%	<0.1%	23.6%	<0.1%	21.9%
Music	<0.1%	0.1%	<0.1%	0.2%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%	0.1%
News and current affairs	2.7%	29.5%	3.7%	31.9%	4.3%	35.3%	4.2%	35.9%
Performance, incl. opera, dance	0%	0.2%	0%	0.1%	0%	0.4%	0%	1.2%
Shorts, incl. Eat Carpet, fillers	<0.1%	1.2%	<0.1%	1.1%	<0.1%	1.0%	0.1%	1.0%
Specials	0.1%	1.1%	0.1%	1.2%	0.2%	1.0%	0.2%	0.4%
Sport³	7.0%	0%	12.0%	0%	11.2%	0%	10.9%	0%
Total	25.0%	75.0%	24.9%	75.1%	24.4%	75.6%	25.4%	74.6%

Source: Compiled by Screen Australia from Special Broadcasting Service Corporation annual reports.

Public broadcasters:: SBS: Australian content