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Independent auditor to oversee Nine Network’s captioning

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The Nine Network has appointed an independent auditor to oversee captioning on its stations TCN and NBN. This follows two instances where the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found that the stations had breached their captioning obligations under the Broadcasting Services Act.

The ACMA found that NBN had failed to provide a captioning service for four editions of its Evening News in June-July 2010, while TCN had also had also failed to provide the service for a segment of A Current Affair broadcast on 28 July 2010.

The ACMA has welcomed Nine’s voluntary appointment of an independent auditor, although its chairman, Chris Chapman, stated that, “the ACMA will continue to closely monitor any complaints received about caption delivery in the broadcasting sector”.

Taxonomy:

Deaf or hearing impaired

News

TV access

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Welcome to our new website

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We have now launched our new website merging our previous sites, mediaaccess.org.au and audiodescription.com.au.

CEO of Media Access Australia, Alex Varley said, “Media Access Australia’s core business is about accessibility. We are out there talking to the community, to business and government about the need for accessible websites and our new site shows it can be achieved. Many people won’t see the accessibility features and that is the point. They are there for the people that need them and you don’t need to put a big label highlighting an accessibility feature, it is part and parcel of standard website design which includes everybody.”

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US research project aims to improve captions on mobile devices

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American access organisation National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) has begun a major research project to address access issues relating to captioned content on mobile devices.

NCAM has stressed that people who are Deaf or hearing impaired face real challenges when trying to access captioned content on devices such as smartphones or tablets. This can be due to issues with the media player as well as a lack of captioned content.

The research project, as reported by the US media company WGBH, is designed to address the following:

Taxonomy:

General

Captions

News

Deaf or hearing impaired

Web

News

Digital media and technology:

Smartphones

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New cinema caption eyewear being trialled in the USA

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Equipment manufacturers in the USA are developing a new caption viewing system to compete in the developing market for closed captions.

The yet-to-be-named system comes as eyewear connected to a small receiver, with the captions appearing on the glasses in sync with the soundtrack. The eyewear is being tested in Regal Cinemas in Seattle.

Taxonomy:

Deaf or hearing impaired

Cinema

News

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