TV | Page 4 | Media Access Australia

Federal Household Assistance Scheme continues to help people with disabilities

no

A bright point in this week’s Federal Government budget is the continuation of the Digital TV Taskforce’s Household Assistance Scheme (HAS).

The HAS provides a set-top box, installation and an antenna, if needed, to eligible households. These households are usually vulnerable people that are elderly, isolated or have a disability.

“The HAS is a model for how government programs should be run,“ said Media Access Australia CEO Alex Varley. “It has been designed in consultation with the people it will help and is sensitive and responsive to their needs.”

Taxonomy:

Top of page

Read more about Federal Household Assistance Scheme continues to help people with disabilities

The SubStation introduces fast captioning service for TV commercials

no

Australian access company The SubStation has introduced a new service called Captionflow which will allow captions for TV commercials to be ordered and delivered online in as little as an hour.

Commercial producers who use the Substation’s sister company, DubSat, to distribute their commercials to TV stations in Australia and New Zealand will now be able to order the captions at the same time. Captionflow also eliminates the costs associated with couriers and dubbing.

Taxonomy:

General

Captions

Television

Deaf or hearing impaired

News

Top of page

Read more about The SubStation introduces fast captioning service for TV commercials

Blind Canadians will get live audio described Royal Wedding coverage

no

Millions of Canadians are expected to watch the Royal Wedding this Friday and Accessible Media Inc (AMI) will ensure that people who are blind and vision impaired can fully enjoy the broadcast with a live audio description service.

Audio description is normally restricted to prerecorded programs due to the inevitable time delay associated with describing something live. However, the pair of describers have the assistance of a production team who will be able to provide research notes and details in real time, working off cues from the broadcast director. The AMI team has already researched areas such as the couple’s route to and from Westminster Abbey and potential guests.

Taxonomy:

Television

News

Top of page

Read more about Blind Canadians will get live audio described Royal Wedding coverage

Major conference discusses audio description trial on TV

no

The 30th anniversary Round Table Conference on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities, which will be held in May, will include a session on access to digital TV through audio description.

The annual conference will feature a range of experts, including Media Access Australia CEO Alex Varley. The panel discussion will look at the upcoming audio description trial proposed for the ABC in the second half of 2011, as well as the trial that is now running in New Zealand. Entitled ‘Access to Digital TV, Audio Description and beyond’, the discussion will be on Sunday 22 May at the Bayview on the Park hotel in Melbourne.

Taxonomy:

Top of page