Free-to-air TV

Ofcom, Office of Communications

Blind or vision impaired

Australian policy and legislation

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Read more about Academic calls for new audio description policy

Government announces review of the ACMA

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The Department of Communications is undertaking a comprehensive review of Australia’s communications regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), to ensure that the organisation is equipped to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing media landscape.

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Research & policy

ACMA, Australian Communications and Media Authority

BSA, Broadcasting Services Act

FCC, Federal Communications Commission

Ofcom, Office of Communications

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ACMA releases caption compliance reports for 2013-2014

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The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has released the annual captioning compliance reports for free-to-air and subscription television for the financial year 2013-2014. They show that the majority of services have met—or exceeded—their targets for the year.

The report for free-to-air compliance found that all 51 commercial stations and SBS met their captioning target for the year, which was to caption 95 per cent of programs on their primary channels between 6 am and midnight. The ABC fell one per cent below its target, due to the fact that only one hour of its music program

Taxonomy:

TV & video

ACMA, Australian Communications and Media Authority

Television

Free-to-air TV

TV access

Disability

Ofcom, Office of Communications

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UK regulator releases caption quality report

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The UK communications regulator Ofcom has released the third of four planned reports on the quality of live captioning on television.

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Ofcom commenced its caption quality measurement project in in 2013, and the first two reports were published in 2014. The reports are based on samples of news and entertainment programs broadcast by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky.

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NZ increases funding for captioning and audio description

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NZ On Air, the New Zealand Government’s broadcast funding agency, has announced that it will increase its funding for captioning and audio description by NZ$400,000 ($AUD 371,207).

NZ On Air: Irirangi Te Motu logo

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Blind or vision impaired

Audio description

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Vision Australia launches audio description campaign

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Vision Australia has launched Tell the Whole Story, a campaign calling for the introduction of audio description on television. The campaign asks that people write to the Minister of Communications, Malcolm Turnbull, to express their need for the service.

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TV & video

AHRC, Australian Human Rights Commission

Blind or vision impaired

Audio description

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Caption reporting retained as communications amendment bill passes House of Reps

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A bill to amend sections of the Broadcasting Services Act, including some sections relating to captioning, was passed in the House of Representatives last night. However, amendments to the original bill mean that broadcasters will have to continue reporting on captioning compliance, while a scheduled review of the captioning rules will go ahead.

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Red Bee publishes results of caption survey

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The captioning provider Red Bee Media Australia has published the results of a survey it conducted about the positioning of captions on the Seven Network program My Kitchen Rules.

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TV & Video highlights of 2014: Captions on Plus7

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In April, the Seven Network’s Plus7 became the first commercial TV catch-up service in Australia to provide closed captions on its major programs.

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Australian policy and legislation

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Caption quality: International approaches to standards and measurement

Media Access Australia has released a white paper entitled Caption quality: International approaches to standards and measurement. It focuses on issues surrounding the live captioning of TV programs, the difficulties in measuring caption quality effectively, and some of the solutions that have been proposed.

The white paper, which is the first in a planned series, was written by our Project manager for television, Chris Mikul, and sponsored by Red Bee Media Australia.

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Research & policy

International policy and legislation