SBS cut summer radio services to make ends meet

SBS had to make unprecendented cuts to its foreign language radio services because of its financial woes, the broadcaster has revealed.

Speaking at a Senate Estimates Committee hearing yesterday, MD  Michael Ebeid warned of SBS’s worsening finances.

Although SBS receives some public funding, it also relies on advertising revenue. However, the rise of the Freeview channels means that rather than being the fourth commercial channel, SBS1 often finishes sixth or seventh for audience share.

Ebeid said SBS would be in deficit in 2012. He said: “We had to put about 15 of our language groups into recess to try and save a little bit of money which, you know, many radio stations do that over a summer period but it was the first time in SBS’s history that we’ve had to do that.”