TV access

Complaints

Before lodging a complaint

Make sure that the problem you are experiencing is not caused by poor reception (scrambled captions on more than one channel are a typical example of this). For more information, go to the captioning problems section of this website.

How to lodge complaints

When making a complaint about captions, make sure you give enough information for the network to investigate it properly. You should

Taxonomy:

TV & video

ACMA, Australian Communications and Media Authority

Blind or vision impaired

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Progress with accessibility needed in New Zealand

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121 students took over New Zealand’s Parliament to debate about ‘Accessible Web Pages and Apps’. This was a mock bill aiming to improve accessibility in NZ.

Close up of person in a lecture browsing their laptop

Taxonomy:

General

Professional services

Blind or vision impaired

Deaf or hearing impaired

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Apple announces minor software accessibility improvements at WWDC 2016 conference

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Apple has announced a number of new features in its range of products at its annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC), with a focus on incremental updates and greater Siri integration.

The conference, which focuses on supporting developers to create new products in the Apple software ecosystem, highlighted a number of improvements across its desktop, mobile, watch and TV set-top-box operating systems, some of which are likely to benefit people with disabilities.

Taxonomy:

Blind or vision impaired

Deaf or hearing impaired

Digital media and technology:

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New Zealand holds an inquiry into captioning

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New Zealand’s Government Administration Committee has announced an inquiry into captioning, and is seeking submissions from the public.

Remote control being pointed at a TV with captions at the bottom of the screen

The inquiry’s terms of reference include:

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More than 2,300 people have signed to legislate closed captioning in NZ

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On Global Accessibility Awareness Day, 19 May 2016, the New Zealand Captioning Working Group submitted a petition to Mojo Mathers, Green MP, with more than 2,300 signatures in a bid for the House of Representatives to legislate closed captioning across all relevant media.

A Woman holds and points a remote control at a TV screen

Taxonomy:

International policy and legislation

Deaf or hearing impaired

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ABC seeks feedback on iview audio description trial

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This month marks the anniversary of the trial of audio description for the blind or vision impaired on iview, and the ABC has released a survey in which it asks viewers for their feedback on the service.

Woman smiles as she wears headphones while watching TV

Taxonomy:

Blind or vision impaired

Solutions

Inclusion

Digital media and technology:

App reviews

Technologies

iOS

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U.K. Government fails to act on video-on-demand accessibility

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The organisation Action on Hearing Loss has expressed disappointment at the U.K. Government’s failure to set targets or introduce legislation for the provision of access services (captions, signing and audio description) on video-on-demand (VOD) services.

Left hand pointing a remote control at a Smart TV displaying a Video on Demand app

Taxonomy:

TV & video

Video

International policy and legislation

News

Television

Ofcom, Office of Communications

Blind or vision impaired

Deaf or hearing impaired

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TV in UK exceeds captioning and audio description quotas

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Television channels in the UK continue to deliver access at much higher levels than the regulated quotas. All channels are covered by the access requirements and any exemptions are generally due to very low levels of audience share.

Man sitting at a mixing panel in a television studio gallery

Taxonomy:

TV & video

International policy and legislation

Television

Ofcom, Office of Communications

TV access

Disability

Blind or vision impaired

Deaf or hearing impaired

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Australian TV networks swap caption suppliers

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Some major changes have taken place in Australian television captioning this year, with Ericsson winning the contract to provide captions to the ABC, while Ai-Media will be the new caption provider for the Seven Network.

Right hand holding remote control in front of captioned sporting event on television