SBS’ new bulletins in Mandarin and Arabic are an expansion of bulletins the multicultural broadcaster currently runs through its radio network and online. The new bulletins will run for 30 minutes on weeknights and will be produced by a newly established local team. They will also be available through SBS’s online platform, SBS On Demand, from January.

SBS’ main function is to provide multilingual and multicultural broadcasting and digital media services that reflect Australia’s multicultural society, with one in five Australians speaking a language other than English at home.

The move to create a sixth channel comes at a time when audiences for television networks are increasingly moving online. SBS already runs international bulletins through its online service, SBS On Demand. Mr Taylor said the creation of a new television channel was a way to strengthen SBS’ language offering across a variety of platforms and make it accessible to all audiences.

SBS WorldWatch will be the sixth free-to-air channel for the broadcaster, which already runs National Indigenous Television (NITV), SBS Viceland, SBS Food and SBS World Movies.

The government’s other publicly funded broadcaster, the ABC, announced last year it would commission content in different languages to “attract diverse communities to its platform”. But Mr Taylor took aim at the ABC’s foray into specialised language services at the time, describing it as a waste of money that could otherwise be spent fulfilling other charter obligations.

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