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Back in 1992, when advertising was about to start on SBS, programs in languages other than English were moved out of prime time, and ever since then, English language programs have dominated prime (advertising) time.

By June 2005, George Zangalis, a former member of the SBS Board, criticised SBS for “moving away from its original charter”: increasing English language programming at the expense of programming in community languages, and focusing on mainstream sports rather than on different cultures.

SBS's search for a broader audience to deliver to the advertisers is also leading, according to some critics, to "the acquisition and commissioning of programs that are 'safer and blander'" (The Age, May 27, 2004). The targeting of a different audience - "the young female demographic" - was what Margaret Pomeranz saw as the effect of SBS's "increasingly commercial bent" (ABC Radio National The Media Report, November 4, 2004).

Not only has advertising skewed SBS's programming, but it has developed its own momentum. When advertising was first introduced, it was limited to five minutes per hour, was not permitted to interrupt programs, and was “tasteful”, “discreet”.

Then the ads became more strident, on SBS's own admission: SBS's director of commercial affairs said "In the past SBS has been reluctant to carry some ads, such as hard-hitting, in-your-face retails ads. That's changing" (Australian Financial Review, February 27, 2006).

The momentum really sped up when SBS introduced ads within its programs - drama, comedy, documentaries, news and current affairs - the lot. "Natural breaks", in for example a compelling documentary, are now filled with exhortations to buy everything from food to furniture, cars to carpets. Ads for upmarket vehicles belittle an issue like African famine.

But it will be worse than an exercise in bad taste. It will have an impact on SBS programming, as certainly as advertising already has, but even more extensively. There is a lesson here for the ABC. Any softening of the line against advertising will eventually lead to an unrecognisable ABC.

No such thing as “discreet” advertising

Just as with advertising on SBS, the effect of advertising on radio in the United States was gradual. When it started in the 1920s, it was genteel and low key. A company's name was attached to an entertainer or a program, but there was no reference to what the company produced, to where the product could be bought or at what price. The depression changed that and over time advertising became more aggressive, intrusive, and distorting.

"Corporate underwriting", of say, a "Commonwealth Bank Classic Drive" or a "Qantas Enough Rope", attracts only a fraction of the revenue brought in by the more overt and raucous "advertising", and over time it is transformed into something more strident - and more lucrative.

Canada by comparison

The distortion of advertising upon programming priorities is alarmingly demonstrated by an example from Canada. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's prime time national TV newscast was re-scheduled to make way for a pilot project for "some kind of American Idol program"! The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation had apparently made an investment in the pilot which it was hoped would run throughout the Canadian autumn, and in order to evaluate it, the national news was pushed back!

As Canadian Senator Jim Munson said, "surely to goodness, in this day and age, the almighty dollar may be good for some … but at the same time there should be a space and place for our public broadcaster to show and reflect what Canada's all about".

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's television service is partly funded by advertising, partly by government (in a ratio of about 2:5). The radio service however is fully funded by government, and carries no advertising. A recent Senate report in Canada has called for an increase in government funding of CBC so that it can get out of advertising altogether.