Senator Fifield asked SBS about its approach to DVD captioning and suggested that “when SBS releases DVDs of its television programs which have broadcast with captions, more often than not the DVD releases come without captions”. Managing Director Shaun Brown replied, “We are endeavouring to maximise the number of DVDs that carry captions…We are working to ensure that we can lift the volume of closed captioning.”
According to Media Access Australia’s research, approximately 20% of SBS’s captioned television programs end up with captions on the DVD release as well.
Mr Brown responded to these statistics, “I understand that we made submissions to the government’s report on access to electronic media for the hearing and the vision impaired in January 2010 and so we are eagerly awaiting the outcome of that review to see whether that provides us with some guidance on the policies that we should set.”
With regard to online captioning Mr Brown said “we are currently working through this year our investment intentions with regard to online, and that (online captioning) is one of the areas under consideration”.
Finally, when asked about services such as audio description being included as part of its social inclusion strategy, Mr Brown answered, “in the past the level of obligation in this regard has been laid down through various regulations and policies that we have responded to. So it would seem to me that it is most appropriate that there is an industry position and an industry delivery rather than a channel-by-channel response.”
ACMA Executive Chairman Chris Chapman confirmed that ACMA’s approach is reactive to complaints, although he did mention the recent large consultation meeting with community organisations, broadcasters and caption suppliers that ACMA convened. Senator Fifield also queried the seemingly long time taken by ACMA to investigate captioning complaints, citing recent cases that have taken nearly a year to be resolved. ACMA admitted that the timeframe was longer than they preferred but said that it had improved in more recent times.
The issue of captioning of online (streaming) versions of broadcasts was also raised and Chris Chapman said, “That currently goes beyond our remit. Again the ACMA are increasingly seeking to facilitate outcomes, but we are very conscious of the fact that it is not our role to get ahead of policy development which is a matter for the minister and the department.”
On the question of audio description and whether it was taking an active interest in this area, like it had with 3DTV, ACMA said that it was being considered by the captioning committee and that there was a discussion about it at the consultation meeting.
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