The access requirements will be the same as those applied to domestic broadcasters. They consist of quotas which, after ten years, rise to 80% for captioning, 10% for audio description and 5% for signing. Ofcom may decide to reduce these quotas for channels where the access services would cost more than 1% of their relevant turnover.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that from September 30, all television networks must provide captions for the content they put online. This only applies to content that was originally broadcast on TV, as required by the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010.
When the grant began, it was used to fund the captioning of entertainment videos, but it has evolved over the years and is now used to caption DVDs and online videos with an education or community focus. One of the biggest beneficiaries of the grant this year was Education Services Australia, which provides online videos that can be accessed by schools and used as curriculum material. This was mostly in the form of short film clips, including newsreels and other historical material from the National Film and Sound Archive.
