The trial commencement date was announced in a joint media release issued by Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), and Senator Jan McLucas, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers.
“This audio description trial is an Australian first,” said Senator Conroy. “It is being funded by the Gillard Government and will cover drama, documentaries and other content broadcast on ABC1.”
“Watching TV is something many of us don’t think twice about,” said Senator McLucas, “but the fact is there are many Australians who haven’t been able to enjoy this popular past time or take advantage of this source of news and information.”
14 hours of audio described programs will be broadcast each week during the trial. The audio description will be ‘closed’, which means that the viewer will need to switch it on. Only those who have an appropriate digital TV or set-top box will be able to access the service during the trial.
To aid consumers wishing to experience audio description during the trial, the Government commissioned a report on digital TVs and set-top boxes available in Australia which are capable of receiving it.
The report lists TV receivers manufactured by Bush, Grundig, Hisense, Samsung, Panasonic, Sanyo, Sharp, TECO, Samsung and Sony, and gives instruction, on how to activate the audio description on each of them. This is done via a button on the remote control, or by adjusting settings in the set-up menu. The report can be downloaded in PDF and Word formats from the DBCDE website.
After the trial is completed, the ABC will report to the Government in late 2012, and the outcome will inform consideration of future audio description requirements. For further information, see our audio description trial FAQs. The ABC has also added an Audio Description Trial page to its website.
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