The new rule is part of the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986 and will come into effect on 12 December 2013. Airline website pages for booking and changing reservations will need to be accessible. Within two years, these pages must meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 AA, with entire website compliance required within three years.
Of the 84 DVD titles searched, 54 per cent were captioned and 33 per cent were audio described. Of the same titles, 63 had a Blu-Ray version and accessibility rated at 67 per pent for captions and 44 per cent for audio description.
A few inconsistences were identified:
Unpublished
Head of Channel Partnerships Benjamin Cox told Media Access Australia that the introduction of closed captioned content was a response to the increasing popularity of its rental movies and TV shows.
“We’ve received a lot of customer feedback over the years and closed captioning for on demand content is something that has always been requested, particularly since video on demand has grown in usage over the recent years,” Cox said.
“We’re heavily investing in captions for our linear channels and it makes sense to provide it across on demand services as well.”
The awards promote better quality, frequency and wider use of captions on television, in cinemas, DVDs, theatre, live events and in other situations such as public transport. Captions are such a benefit to the one in six Australians who are Deaf or have a hearing impairment or chronic disorder of the ear. Captions are an essential part of daily communications, entertainment and social needs, providing enjoyment and information about what is happening in the world around us.
