What is SBS Sport?
SBS Sport is the sport service of the Special Broadcasting Service, Australia's multilingual and multicultural public broadcaster. SBS reproduces its Charter as providing that "the principal function of the SBS is to provide multilingual and multicultural broadcasting and digital media services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect Australia's multicultural society", expressed through duties that include addressing the communications needs of Australia's multicultural communities, promoting understanding of cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity, and contributing to the overall diversity of Australian broadcasting alongside the ABC and the community sector.[1]
That Charter frames why association football sits at the centre of the service rather than the football codes that dominate the commercial networks. SBS's sport output runs on its television channels and on the SBS On Demand streaming service, and the broadcaster describes the FIFA World Cup as a continuing relationship rather than a single acquisition.[2]
What does SBS Sport cover?
The documented anchor of the service is the FIFA World Cup. SBS announced on 31 October 2023 that it had secured exclusive Australian rights to the 2026 tournament, with all 104 matches to be shown live and free-to-air across SBS, SBS2 and SBS On Demand, and described the arrangement as extending a partnership with FIFA that it dates to 1986 — a claim SBS makes about its own history.[2]
The measured effect of that tournament on the service is visible in the digital data for the month it ran. Mediaweek's report of the Ipsos iris figures for June 2026 records SBS Sport's audience rising from 59,000 to 716,000 users in the month, and FIFA.com.au rising from 112,000 to 1.64 million, within a sport category used by 14.1 million Australians.[3]
How large is SBS Sport's audience?
The most recent measured figure available for the service is the Ipsos iris reading for June 2026, reported by Mediaweek: 716,000 users of SBS Sport, against 59,000 the month before, during the FIFA World Cup. The same report put the whole sport category at 14.1 million Australians for the month at an average of 56.6 minutes a day, and listed the five largest sport brands as the Australian Football League on 3.75 million, news.com.au – Sport on 3.26 million, ESPN.com.au on 3.13 million, Fox Sports on 2.86 million and the National Rugby League on 2.57 million.[3]
For the previous tournament SBS published its own consumption figure rather than a ratings number: it stated that its 2022 FIFA World Cup coverage drew more than 80 million hours of consumption with around one third of that from digital platforms, which it attributed in part to the Australian men's team's progress at that tournament.[2] That is the broadcaster's own measurement, and no independently audited figure for SBS Sport across a full year could be retrieved.
Since when has SBS Sport existed?
SBS operates under the Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991, which contains the Charter it reproduces on its own site.[1] A start date for SBS Sport as a distinct service could not be established from a primary source, and it should not be conflated with either the Act or the broadcaster's own founding.
The dated point in the sport service's history that SBS itself asserts is 1986, the year from which it says it has broadcast the FIFA World Cup; SBS describes itself as having been the home of football on Australian television for almost 40 years, which is the broadcaster's own account of its history.[2] The rights announcement itself is dated 31 October 2023 and covers the 2026 edition.[2]
Why does SBS Sport matter in Australia's sport?
The World Cup rights SBS holds sit inside the anti-siphoning regime. The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts records that in September 2023 the Minister amended the anti-siphoning list to include selected FIFA Women's World Cup matches, so that the list provides for the equivalent listing of the FIFA World Cup — the men's tournament — and the FIFA Women's World Cup, and describes the scheme, made under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, as preventing subscription television broadcasters from acquiring rights to listed events unless "a free-to-air broadcaster has a right to televise the event", with an event dropping off the list automatically 26 weeks before it begins.[4]
The department states that the reformed scheme and the modernised anti-siphoning list commenced on 17 December 2024, after reform legislation passed Parliament on 4 July 2024 extending the regime to online services.[5][4] Adding women's events to the list was announced as government policy on 19 August 2023, with the proposals paper naming Paralympic Games events, the AFL Women's premiership, the NRL Women's premiership and the women's State of Origin series among the candidates.[6] SBS is one of the free-to-air broadcasters on which that structure depends for football.[2]
References
- SBS — The SBS Charter, section 6 of the Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- SBS — SBS secures exclusive FIFA World Cup 2026 rights, 31 October 2023. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Mediaweek — Ipsos iris sport category, June 2026 data, published 21 July 2026. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts — Anti-siphoning. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Department of Infrastructure — Anti-siphoning scheme review, commencement of the reformed scheme. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Prime Minister of Australia — Securing a sporting legacy for women and girls, 19 August 2023. Accessed 2026-09-19.