Paul Sheehan savages SBS in the paper today. It's not a bad article. My only insight into this is that my in-laws are from a foreign land, and although they get a weekly paper from the home country, I have never seen them watch SBS. They watch the local news, since that is what is relevant to them (no use seeing what the weather is like in southern Europe at this time of year - you want to know whether to wear a cardigan today or not). They watch the same movies and soapies as you and me.
And now they have the internet. Email does not seem to be much use, as all their relatives back in the old country aren't online, so the only people they can email is us, and all concerned still prefer the weekly phone call.
But I am digressing. I guess before long they will dump the subscription to the newspaper and read all their news from the old country online. Last time we visited, I noticed that they had bookmarked quite a few sites like that.
So what use is SBS?
I like watching Top Gear (when it is on) and junior loves the horrible cartoons like South Park. Frankly, I would prefer that SBS just ceased to exist so that he wouldn't be able to watch them anymore.
The overseas news is a waste of time. If I want to know what is happening in say the UK, I go to websites like the BBC, The Times, The Independent or even (shudder) the Guardian. I figure that people from say Greece now do the same thing. SBS is redundant. If a business case was put up today to set it up and fund it, it would be rejected out of hand as totally stupid. It's time has come and gone. Fold up your tents and be done with it.
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