Labor opposes new SBS advertising proposal
Labor caucus says no to SBS increasing primetime ads from 5 to 10 minutes an hour.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Labor caucus has voted to block a proposal for more primetime advertising on SBS.
The proposal to allow for more flexible use of the current 120 minutes of advertising per day, would allow the broadcaster to increase ads in primetime from 5 to 10 minutes and attract better revenue.
But it has been bitterly opposed by commercial Free to Air networks who have lobbied against it while Save our SBS argues it creates a fourth commercial network via stealth.
Opposition Bill Shorten has previously argued that the government was forcing the broadcaster to run more primetime ads after breaking an election promise, regarding no funding cuts to public broadcasters.
SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid has defended the proposal as supporting its ability to reinvest in its Charter.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has previously warned unless legislation is passed by the end of June, SBS will need to axe programs or services.
Source: News Corp
6 Responses
I wander why the Labour Party is opposed to this?
I don’t know that the Labour Party is opposed. Will have to check with David Cameron. Labor is opposing it as Labor wants to see cuts in programs and services due to cuts in government funding. “No cuts to the ABC or SBS”.
I think you have the wrong leader as David Cameron is the leader of the Conservatives. I don’t know why Labor opposes this, its almost like Labor doesn’t want SBS anymore in the TV industry. Save money and cut NITV
I, for one, applaud Bill Shorten’s and the Labor Party’s opposition to extra advertising times for SBS. The network operates on the same licence category as the ABC, that is “A” – National, meaning no ads!(I use the word “Category” as “class” implies quality, which is more and more absent from programme content across all stations lately).
Labor always opposes sensible budget savings proposals, nothing new in that.
Because they are the opposition and believe that the resulting programming cuts will damage Abbott and not them, because most voters won’t ever know or accept the truth. This is the same reason why Get Up! and the Greens are opposing the change.