Australian policy and legislation

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Captioning on digital multichannels

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The Federal Government is due to introduce new regulations regarding captioning on digital multichannels like GO!, 7Two, Eleven and ABC2 which will take effect in 2014. With this in mind, Media Access Australia has conducted a survey of the content and current levels of captioning on these channels.

Under current provisions in the Broadcasting Services Act, the only programs which need to be captioned on multichannels are repeats which were originally shown with captions on a network’s primary channel. The survey shows that captioning on the commercial networks’ multichannels remains largely confined to repeats, with some exceptions such as Neighbours, which screens on Eleven, and AFL matches on 7Mate. Overall, the Seven Network’s multichannels, 7Two and 7Mate, had the highest levels of captioning, with over 40% of programs between 6am and midnight being captioned.


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SBS falls short with DVD access

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As part of a series of home entertainment accessibility reports outside regular entertainment DVD titles, Media Access Australia has collated information around the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and its level of DVD accessibility, showing whether its titles have closed captions and audio description.

In looking into the accessibility of DVDs of programs previously broadcast, it is noteworthy that audio description is not yet broadcast on television as part of a full time service, but captioning has been mandatory under the Broadcasting Services Act for many years. With this in mind, it is perhaps not surprising that the level of audio description on SBS titles is very low at 1%.


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ACMA posts captioning exemptions submissions

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The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has posted submissions it has received in response to preliminary caption exemption and target reduction orders granted to 10 television service providers, covering a total of 90 channels. Most of these are subscription TV services which are re-transmitting channels from other sources such as FOXTEL.

These exemption and target reduction orders relate to the new quotas for captioning on free-to-air and subscription television which were included in the Broadcasting Services Act in 2012. The ACMA has the power to grant the orders to television services if providing captions would cause them ‘unjustifiable hardship’. The closing date for applications covering 2013 onward was 27 December 2012, and the ACMA posted its reasons for making preliminary orders earlier this year. Once these were posted, individuals and organisations had 30 days to make submissions in response to them.


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The top 5 ways the Disability Discrimination Act has boosted access

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The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) turns 20 this year and Australia’s disability communities are taking the opportunity to reflect on how the Act has been used as an instrument for equality. Media Access Australia is no exception; here are the top five ways the DDA has increased access to media content.

Free-to-air TV


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