Gallery: Farewell to SBS 2
When it launched in 2009, SBS 2 arrived without any extra govt funding. Here's to the shows it brought us.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News, Top Stories
On Tuesday SBS 2 will discontinue when SBS VICELAND begins at 4pm, ending a 7 year run for the multichannel.
The channel launched ambitiously on June 1st 2009 without any extra government funding.
At the time general manager Shaun Brown said, “We are launching SBS2 ahead of Government funding assurance because we believe without new services like this the public will remain indifferent to digital take up. But only Government support will ensure we can continue with this new service.”
In recent years SBS has seen funding cuts and plans to address revenue with more primetime ads were blocked. It has had to be resourceful, adding SBS Food Networks and now SBS VICELAND -both dominated by US and Canadian programming.
SBS 2 opened in 2009 with Adam Elliot’s Oscar winning short Harvie Krumpett plus drama series 112 Emergency (Germany), Humanimal (France), Shadya (Israel), As It Happened (France), Lost Worlds (Germany) and later The Ashes and Tour de France.
In 2010 it revamped its schedule with themed nights: Entertainment, Science, History, Politics, Arts, Culture and Personal Interest before a further channel refresh aimed at younger viewers in 2013.
Over the years first run Australian titles have included: Danger 5, Mardi Gras, Tropfest TV, Unplanned America, Stand Up @ Bella Union, The Eurovision Quiz Contest, Wizards of Oz, Top Knot Detective and Hipsters.
International shows have included The Protectors, UnReal, Adam Looking for Eve, The Walking Dead, The Returned, Drunk History, Orphan Black, Cordon, Lost Girl, Real Humans, The Mindy Project, Suspect Moustache, Glue, In The Flesh, Bullet in the Face, Don’t Tell My Mother, Russell Howard’s Good News, Billy on the Street, Threesome, 12 Monkeys and Community.
SBS VICELAND will retain The Feed, SBS PopAsia, South Park, Brooklyn Nine Nine, A League, If You Are the One, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee plus foreign language news bulletins.
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- Tagged with 112 Emergency, 12 Monkeys, A-League, Adam Looking for Eve, As It Happened, Billy on the Street, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Bullet in the Face, Community, Cordon, Danger 5, Don't Tell My Mother, Drunk History, Glue, Hipsters, Humanimal, If You Are the One, In the Flesh, Lost Girl, Lost Worlds, Orphan Black, Real Humans, Russell Howard's Good News, SBS PopAsia, Shadya, South Park, Stand Up @ Bella Union, Suspect Moustache, Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade, The Ashes, The Eurovision Quiz Contest, The Feed, The Killing, The Mindy Project, The Protectors, The Returned, The Walking Dead, Threesome, Top Knot Detective, Tour de France, Tropfest TV, Unplanned America, UnREAL, Wizards of Oz
14 Responses
I’ve just browsed the first week’s program and feel very uninspired by what is on offer, most shows I won’t even try after reading the descriptions on the Viceland website. It looks like the televisual equivalent of listening to endless rap music. Only 1 of the Viceland shows appeals to me but I have yet to watch it to know for sure. Apart from that it’s only some of the content they’re keeping (Sam Bee, and the replayed to death VS Arashi). This feels very sad.
What? No orphan black. Showed the whole series but no final season? That’s really poor.
Yep looks like I will have to watch Orphan Black elsewhere (and they never aired the last season of Him and Her either)
So glade I’m watching the Mythbusters final tonight on SBS2.
cant believe they lost orphan black Emmy Award winner tatiana maslany so cool being able to say that about her
After ABC, SBS2 is my most watched/recorded channel, by a large margin. It’s a shame we’re losing it and gaining offcasts from the States. I’ve seen enough of Vice to know that I can stop checking the SBS2 EPG for anything interesting after Tuesday. The handful of shows you’ve listed as retained are the least interesting ones in their current lineup. I hope SBS (the main channel) goes back to innovative programming. What happens to shows like Adam Ruins Everything? Russell Howard? 12 Monkeys? Black Mirror? Walking Dead?
Can also confirm Adam Ruins Everything will continue. Black Mirror is now a Netflix title.
Shame to see such a great channel go. It brought me shows like Hipsters, Russell Howard, and Orphan Black. Those that continue, I’ll be forced to find from an alternative source. I don’t see any Viceland product I want to watch in it’s current schedule.
I still cannot accept that this isn’t some lame April Fools Day joke.
I’ve long accepted that my tv tastes don’t match the general population, but SBS2 was my favourite channel because of many of the shows listed in this article.
Bringing UnREAL, Community, Orphan Black, The Mindy Project and Parks & Recreation to regular scheduled programming brought me to watch SBS2, the loss of all of this content will result in a loss of viewers for SBS2. With changes in FTA TV at the moment I am just making the assumption that any quality overseas programs are migrating to online streaming or pay-tv.
This article made me realise I’ve never watched anything on SBS2, with its shocking new name, I’m hardley likely to either.
Some fantastic shows over the years.
RIP SBS2. You will be missed.
Sad to see it go.
I hope that this means Netflix can pick up the remaining Orphan Black episodes.