[csaa-forum] SBS losses

[Melissa Gregg]

SBS left reeling as film buffs give it the flick 
By Garry Maddox, Film Reporter 
April 6, 2004 

Two of the highest profile stars on SBS TV, The Movie Show hosts
Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, have quit the network for the ABC.

In a move that surprised executives on the multicultural broadcaster,
the ABC's director of television, Sandra Levy, announced yesterday that
the duo would host a new film show from mid-year.

It was a defection, said to have started after a conversation at a
social event, that had ABC insiders trumpeting and their SBS
counterparts downbeat.

In a statement, Pomeranz said she was critical of where SBS was heading.

"All organisations go through change and SBS is heading in a new
direction," she said. "As a passionate supporter of public broadcasting,
I did not feel comfortable with this new direction."

The SBS head of television, Shaun Brown, who has been targeting a
broader audience, did not want to comment. But the managing director of
SBS, Nigel Milan, issued a statement saying the two stars had been
discussing their retirement for some time.

"We just didn't expect they would move to the ABC instead," he said.

Pomeranz denied they had discussed retiring from the program. "The
implication was always from SBS that we could continue as long as we
wished with our program."

On air for 17 years, The Movie Show is one of SBS's highest-rating
programs. The future of the show was unclear yesterday.

A former producer of The Movie Show, Richard Kuipers, said the couple's
defection was the public broadcasting equivalent of newsreader Brian
Henderson switching from Nine to Seven during his heyday.

He believed the move stemmed from the "offensive" way Stratton had been
treated, with the downgrading of his Movie of the Week and Cinema
Classics hosting slots.

The network was being dumbed down, Kuipers said, which included
screening low-grade "tits and arse" movies on Friday nights.

A former SBS director of programming, Rod Webb, said the duo had been
treated badly.

"I'm aware that David and Margaret have not been happy at SBS for the
last year. They've been very shabbily treated in my view."

Webb said Pomeranz had been made to answer to SBS Independent executives
when the local and outside commissioning operations were amalgamated.



This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/05/1081017098330.html 

Melissa Gregg
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies
4th Floor, Forgan Smith Tower
University of Queensland Australia 4072
 
ph     61 7 3346 9762
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