When transmission began for the night, the opening announcement would be as follows with "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Aaron Copland playing in the background:"Welcome to Channel 0/28 Multicultural Television, Sydney and Melbourne.

As well as from the Hyatt Kingsgate Tower in Kings Cross, Sydney, on UHF Channel 54 with a vision carrier frequency of 737.25MHz.

Gyngell left SBS in late 1982 (who would later join TV-am in the United Kingdom in 1984) and the channel was starting to be plagued by repeats.

[12] Other cities that have launched the channel on, between and beyond those days included Maryborough/Wide Bay–Burnett, Rockhampton, Mackay, Katherine, Cairns, Bunbury, Albany, Kalgoorlie, Esperance, Geraldton, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Mount Isa, Orange, Griffith, Mildura, Swan Hill, Wagga Wagga, Albury-Wodonga, Coffs Harbour, Lismore, Tamworth and Taree.

[14] The Movie Show continued with four new hosts, which included Megan Spencer, Jaimie Leonarder, Fenella Kernebone and Marc Fennell.

[17] In May 2007, The Movie Show returned with a new interactive ten-minute format, presented by Lisa Hensley and Michael Adams.

[26][27] Leading up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, SBS spent $20 million in order to acquire the exclusive rights to broadcast the competition.

[29] Although it has a strong focus on international news and current affairs, it also presents documentaries and educational programs, drama, comedy, films and sport.

SBS devotes a significant part of its morning television schedule to news bulletins in languages other than English[30] as well as showing many subtitled, foreign-language films.

International productions shown include Inspector Rex, Unit One, Funland, Shameless, Medici and ZeroZeroZero.

The channel has presented flagship comedy shows, which include Pizza, Newstopia, Life Support, John Safran, Swift and Shift Couriers, Bogan Pride, in addition to reality television series, Nerds FC, or Song for the Socceroos.

The remainder of SBS's schedule consists of English-language lifestyle, music, game and talk shows.

Since the late 1980s, SBS has screened the 1960s German-made comedy sketch Dinner for One every New Year's Eve, emulating an annual European TV tradition.

It also broadcasts foreign language news on its second digital channel SBS Viceland, sometimes it provides additional information, highlights, and statistics for programmes shown on SBS, such as the FIFA World Cup, The Ashes, Olympic Games, and the Australian Football League Grand Final.

SBS has also produced and broadcast a range of sport related programming including The World Game and the UEFA Champions League Magazine.

SBS provided complementary coverage and focused on long-form events such as football, road bicycle racing, volleyball, and table tennis.

In contrast, Seven broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies and mainstream sports including swimming, athletics, rowing, cycling and gymnastics.

[33] The rest comes from independent sources, including "advertising and sponsorship, production services and sale of programs and merchandise".

SBS On Demand is available on the web and via apps for mobile devices, smart TVs and set-top boxes.

[19] On 4 July 2015 SBS launched a modified version of its 2008 logo when its main channel changed its name back to 'SBS TV'.