Jobs and programs will have to be cut unless advertising restrictions on SBS are eased, the public broadcaster has warned.

Legislation before parliament aims to increase the hourly ad limit to 10 minutes instead of five, but with the daily cap remaining at 120 minutes.

In its submission to an inquiry into the bill, SBS argues that in an environment of financial pressure it’s “timely and necessary” for the broadcaster to be able to generate a modest increase in revenue.

The extra dollars – which it estimates to be an additional $28.5 million over the next four years – would also help the broadcaster maintain its investment in multicultural and multilingual programs.

But without the changes, the already “lean and agile” organisation would be forced to consider cuts in programming and services.

“Invariably a reduction in programming and service levels would lead to job losses and a flow-on impact to the broader creative services sector,” it warned.

The broadcaster said any additional advertising and sponsorship would not detract from efforts to deliver on its charter.

It gave the example of Tour de France coverage as an event which could see increased ads without compromising quality.

SBS stressed the daily cap of 120 minutes was still well below the 350 minutes a day commercial broadcasters can devote to ads.

But free-to-air broadcasters strongly oppose the legislation, arguing it will have a detrimental impact on their operations and could lead to job losses.

“Commercial broadcasters should not be required to subsidise funding cuts to a government-funded broadcaster,” Free TV Australia said in its submission.