SBS boss – expect free TV to get a lot worse

The economic downturn will see free TV slash budgets slash budgets and cut back on programming, the boss of SBS has predicted.   

Speaking at a broadcasting conference in Sydney, Shaun Brown, the MD of SBS, told the audience: “While I do not believe the prognosis is terminal, undeniably there is a general air of pessimism about the prospects of media companies and broadcasters across the world.

“While profit downgrades are disturbing for shareholders, let me suggest the real impact will be felt by viewers and listeners. A downturn in advertising revenue has an immediate knock‐on effect for content. In television, the biggest discretionary budget is in programming. When times are tough, this is the easy target for cost‐cutting.

“I wonder too whether private equity investors, who now have such a slice of the free to air market, will fully appreciate that while cutting program budgets may provide short term relief for the bottom line, such cuts will almost certainly destroy long term value.”