Situation is ‘dire’, says SBS director
Mar 01
SBS‘s director of television and online content Matt Campbell has painted a grim picture of the broadcaster’s operating situation, blasting the Nine Network‘s deal to secure the popular Top Gear programme and saying that the coffers are near-empty.
Speaking at the Australian International Documentary Conference, Campbell said that the loss of Top Gear – formerly SBS’s highest-rating programme - had wiped millions off SBS’s advertising revenues, The Australian reports.
“The loss of Top Gear is certainly a blow to us, and it is a blow to the producers sitting in the room, because Top Gear for the last four years has been funding many of your programs.”
He added that the deal between Nine and BBC Worldwide was, in his view, ”particularly dirty business”.
A $4 million increase in funding from the Federal Government would be insufficient to cover the decline in advertising revenue, leaving the corporation “in the shit”, he told the conference. Depicting the situation as “dire”, he said that “we have no money for online; we have no money for SBS TWO”.
But Campbell stated that he was not “bitter”, expressing some hope that the Government would give SBS renewed assistance in the future – having given a large licence fee windfall to the commercial networks and a sizeable increase last year to the ABC’s government funding.
Media Spy discussion: SBS
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Cyril Washbrook March 1st 2010