Foodies across Australia rejoice! 24-hours of food is coming straight to your living room!
SBS recently reported that later in 2015 it will be launching its fourth channel, dedicated entirely to food. It’s every foodie’s wildest dream.
The free-to-air channel will be broadcasted on channel 33 and is meant to celebrate diversity by showing different food related programs that will demonstrate the vast diversity of food in this world.
Now you might be thinking, “great, another 24 hours of cattiness and food fights on reality shows,” but SBS promises it won’t be that way.
For this channel, SBS has signed an output and licensing deal with Scripps Network Interactive, owner of Food Network, DIY Network and Travel Channel. The deal will allow SBS to air shows from Scripps’ portfolio, including Camp Cutthroat, Chopped and Unwrapped 2.0.
SBS has said that for the time being they will mix content from Scripps, other overseas shows and its own successful food programs, such as Food Safari and Destination Flavour. However, SBS is looking into creating new shows specifically for the new channel. This content that SBS plans to run on this new channel will be very different to the cooking shows on networks such as Seven, Nine and Ten.
However, this delicious new channel doesn’t come without problems. Budget cuts at SBS have become an issue with SBS managing director Michael Ebeid looking into the organisation’s funding, saying he hoped to be able to avoid laying off staff and cutting programming.
“It was important that the new channel did not cost the network anything and that it could sustain itself and add modestly to profit,” he said.
Mr Ebeid believes it is important to have a revenue stream that could grow in the future, rather than taking the network’s already limited funds. Despite this, SBS chief officer Helen Kellie believes that the new food-devoted channel will prove to be a great opportunity for them.
“We see it as a very big-scale opportunity in Australia,” she said.
SBS will be working with the government between now and Christmas, claims Mr Ebeid, in a bit to prevent any other program cuts while still producing this new channel.
The name of the new food channel will be revealed closer to its launch date in November. – Isabel Williams
Top photo by Vishnavi Kulentsirarasa.
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