Outgoing ABC boss Mark Scott has put forward a proposition for a "friendly merger" between the ABC and SBS during his address to the National Press Club.
Mr Scott said the two public broadcasters had become increasingly similar since they were first launched and could be merged together to deliver content for a diverse range of audiences.
"Increasingly, the ABC and SBS have tripped over each other as each strives to meet its audience and programming needs best to maximise audience engagement," he said. "At times we've even bid against each other for programs and content and there have been scheduling frustrations as well.
"This is increasingly been the case as SBS has moved away from multilingual programming on its main channel in recent years as it pursues, legitimately, advertising revenue."
The comments come as SBS announces the launch of a new 24-hour Arabic digital radio channel and online hub, Arabic24.
An SBS spokesman said: "Our sole focus is on delivering unique services to Australian audiences at a time when it has never been more important to promote the value of cultural diversity."
“To that end, we were pleased to launch SBS Arabic24 last night to Parliamentarians, a 24/7 Arabic digital radio channel and online hub," the spokesman said.
"This service reflects our ongoing commitment to the SBS Charter, to providing balanced and impartial news and telling Australian stories in innovative ways that delivers value for money for the Australian taxpayer.
“There was overwhelming support for SBS and its role at the SBS Parliamentary Showcase last night.”
SBS Arabic24 Executive Producer Marie Myssy said the service, to launch on March 7, would be a great help to new arrivals coming from Arabic-speaking countries.
"Many new migrants coming from conflict zones are facing challenges to settle in Australia so we thought an around the clock service in Arabic - in their language - would play a big role in their settlement," she said.
Ms Myssy said the radio program had been inundated with calls from viewers following the announcement.
"Some sang for us, some read poems for us," she said of the callers. "They said it's an historic day, a revolution in the Arabic media, the best news ever [and] a great achievement for SBS."
'Difficult conversation'
Mr Scott said the a merger between the ABC and SBS was "last seriously discussed three decades ago".
"It's a difficult conversation to even start with anxieties about the SBS being swallowed up and concerns at the ABC about SBS's commercial activity," he said.
"There will be debate about the size of potential savings and I know some love to reject the idea out of hand before we even contemplate the reform but we need a growing-up conversation."
He said he had previously discussed the possible merger privately with a former SBS managing director and he believed it could save the government about $40 million per year.
"Some years ago, towards the end of his term as SBS managing director, Sean Brown and I had a number of conversations about how a peaceful merger might work," Mr Scott said.
"We felt we could come up with a public broadcasting proposition for government that worked in the interest of audiences, the taxpayers, the broadcasters.
"Increasingly, the ABC and SBS have tripped over each other as each strives to meet its audience and programming needs best to maximise audience engagement."
"A shared solution, not a takeover, but a friendly merger in the interests of the owners. But it wasn't to be. The idea was rejected at the SBS board level and Sean wasn't given licence to pursue the conversation further."
Mr Scott said he envisaged the "friendly merger" would involve shared back-office support, shared IT, legal, studios, HR services, safeguards to maintain a "distinct identity and remit for SBS" and would reduce overlap between the broadcasters.
"But down the track, I think the time will come for a real investigation of this possibility," he said.
"We should see if there is a better way to use scarce resources to preserve identity, celebrate diversity and present a richer, deeper, broader public broadcasting experience to the Australian people."
Dim future for news
Outgoing ABC boss Mark Scott has painted a pessimistic picture for the future of Australia's news media, predicting some of the nation's most important newspapers might stop printing weekday editions within three years.
There could be fewer regional newspapers as well as the continued loss of radio and television news services in the bush, as advertising revenue is siphoned from traditional media to new giants such Google, Facebook and Apple.
Commercial TV networks would be under pressure to reduce Australian content, Mr Scott told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.
The percentage of local content on Australian screens would continue to erode as massive global libraries were unlocked through YouTube, Netflix and other providers.
"All these scenarios are possible. Many are likely. Some are simply inevitable," Mr Scott said, adding it wasn't idle speculation.
"It is simply a continuation of well-established trends that are being accelerated by other factors, such as the growth of fast broadband and the ubiquity of mobile devices."
"We should see if there is a better way to use scarce resources to preserve identity, celebrate diversity and present a richer, deeper, broader public broadcasting experience to the Australian people."
The old link between locally created content and local advertising markets had been broken.
The push to get audiences to pay for content was constrained by the countless choices they have and by the quality of cheap or free global offering.
"It's hard to see a traditional news or broadcast media company, anywhere in the world, that is thriving through their traditional business model," Mr Scott said.
Deep-pocketed global giants and nimble upstarts were ambitious and on the move.
Mr Scott, a former Fairfax Media executive, said it would be sad if newspapers such as The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald ceased print editions.
"But that was the reality we've got to deal with," he said, noting after 15 years no one had come with a sustainable business model for the digital age.
