SBS offering more an ever before in 0/4

SBS offering more than ever before in 2013/14

30 October 2013 - embargo 1pm

News Release

SBS today unveiled its 2013-14 programming line-up, featuring more thought-provoking, powerful and daring commissioned content than ever before across factual, entertainment, food, drama, news and current affairs and sport.

Tony Iffland, Director of TV, SBS said: SBS's depth and quality of programming is bigger and better than ever before as we head into the coming year, with commissioned Australian content up 33% in 2013-2014.

The year ahead sees SBS building reputable brands such as Once Upon a Time and Who Do You Think You Are? and introducing new commissioned documentaries that will continue to provoke debate and push boundaries across a range of topics.

We're expanding our already incredibly popular food offering with five new commissions for the coming year and layering our schedule with the best in international drama and factual acquisitions.

A year on from joining the SBS stable, NITV is gaining strength and popularity and the

SBS 2 reboot earlier this year has cemented its position as a channel for emerging culture, increasing the target 16-39 audience by 74% year on year.

If all that wasn't compelling enough, the biggest sporting event in history The FIFA World Cup airs live and exclusive on SBS across June and July in 2014.

SBS has a strong reputation of delivering ground breaking, thought-provoking, original content and 2014 solidifies our aim to provide a schedule with consistency, easier navigation and extraordinary depth of programming.

Factual Highlights

SBS will once again be the home for landmark documentary series in 2014, with a host of ground-breaking factual commissions that will push boundaries and provoke debate.

New for 2014:

Living with the Enemy (Shine Australia) is a bold, new provocative six-part series which explores the faultlines of social cohesion, as two people who have diametrically opposed views on a cultural divide are immersed in each other's lives.

Australia's Secret Heroes (Joined Up) a three-part series charting the journey of a secretive WWII Special Forces unit, and follows the grandchildren of veterans as they attempt to follow in their footsteps through their gruelling jungle training regime.

Acclaimed author and journalist Peter Fitzsimons will host a new three-part documentary series, The Great Australian Race Riot (Essential Media and Entertainment) that will reveal our turbulent history of racism, riots and reconciliation.

Well-known SBS name, Matthew Evans of Gourmet Farmer will be taken out of his comfort zone as he embarks on a voyage of discovery to reveal the complex truth behind Australia's seafood in the three-part series What's The Catch? (Essential Media and Entertainment).

SBS continues to tell powerful and engaging Australian multicultural stories, welcoming back some strong and recognisable factual brands.

Returning for 2014:

The second series of Once Upon A Time, Once Upon a Time in Punchbowl (Northern Pictures), premieres on SBS on 7 January 2014. It is the inside story of the challenges the Lebanese community has faced in Australia and how they have fought to overcome them. (4 x 1hr)

The Once Upon a Time series will continue with the announcement of Once Upon a Time in Carlton (Northern Pictures), which will delve into the Italian community in Carlton, Melbourne with Mick Gatto a key character in the series. (3x 1hr)

Celebrated genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? (Artemis International and Serendipity Productions) returns for its sixth Australian series, exploring the family history of high profile Australians including Andrew Denton, Jacki Weaver, Rebecca Gibney, Richard Roxburgh and Lisa McCune. (8x 1hr)

All of these new factual commissions receive funding from Screen Australia.

Drama & Entertainment Highlights

SBS's renewed commitment to quality drama continues in 2014 with some of the best new international drama acquisitions.

One of the most anticipated drama series this year, Rectify, stars Australia's own Aden Young and Adelaide Clemens. This heartbreaking and breath-taking drama tells the story of a death row inmate who is thrust into a world he no longer knows when his conviction is vacated.

SBS's strong documentary Sunday nights will expand in 2014, creating event TV with the introduction of key factual and drama series throughout the year, the first of which is World War II season featuring three new dramas;

Generation War, a German World War II miniseries, about 5 friends set in Berlin, 1941.

Spies of Warsaw, an adaptation of Alan Furst's celebrated spy novel starring David Tenant (Doctor Who) and Janet Montgomery (Entourage).

Restless, about a young woman who names her mother as having worked as a spy for the British Secret Service.

SBS's compelling Danish drama slate continues with the return of The Bridge, and Borgen. Borgen Season 2 premieres on November 13, 9.30pm SBS ONE.

Popular drama Vikings also returns to SBS with season two in March, followed by the recently renewed second season of Masters of Sex later next year.

Australia's much loved music quiz show, RocKwiz, will be back in 2014 with a new expanded season of 14 episodes, as the delightful Julia Zemiro, Brian Nankervis, human scoreboard Dugald and the talented RocKwiz Orkestra bring the Gershwin Room at the legendary Esplanade hotel in St Kilda to life in Australia's original music trivia show.

Food Highlights

SBS's popular Thursday night food programming is set to get bigger and better with more series from some of Australia's leading chefs.

Gourmet Farmer Afloat (Essential Media and Entertainment) features Matthew Evans, Ross O'Meara and Nick Haddows as they trace the path followed by the first Australians to chart Tasmanian shores, explo

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