There is currently no legislation requiring audio description on Australian media. However, one of the recommendations of the Federal Government's Media Access Review final report, released in December 2010, was that there be a technical trial of audio description on the ABC.
The trial, which took place on ABC1, commenced on 5 August 2012, and continued for 13 weeks. During that time, an average of 2 hours of audio described programming was broadcast each evening.
This section should be treated as general advice only and is not to be regarded as legal advice covering discrimination or broadcasting law.
The preliminary count is a whopping 48, far outpacing the entire history of described first-run movie DVDs from 2000 to 2009.
The increase is primarily due to the commitment of Sony, Universal Pictures and Disney to transfer description from movies described for cinema release to their DVD releases. Universal, however, has not committed to making the description available on all rental versions. Amazon USA is still not listing information confirming description, unlike Amazon’s UK site.
Movies by Burswood is offering audio description at a large proportion of its Program 1 schedule which runs until 19 February. Program 2 will be released later in the season. Movies with audio description include Eat Pray Love, The Town, The Social Network and Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dream Treader.
