Govt wants captioning improved
By 2014 the government wants 100% captioning on primary channels between 6am and midnight.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
The Government has completed a Media Access Review to improve access to electronic media for people with hearing and vision impairment.
By 2014 it wants 100% captioning on primary channels between 6am and midnight.
The government will move to introduce legislation in 2011 to:
* provide regulatory certainty by consolidating captioning requirements for both free-to-air and subscription television broadcasters into the Broadcasting Services Act 1992;
* raise captioning targets to provide a better outcome for people with disability; and
* introduce requirements for caption quality.
Some of the select recommendations include:
Television:
Recommendation 1—That Government includes new captioning targets in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, mandating 100 per cent captioning between 6.00 am and midnight on the primary television service provided by national broadcasters and commercial television broadcasters by 2014.
Recommendation 2—That the Government prescribes the sections of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 that mandate captioning targets under subsection 47(2) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. The legislative amendments would result in anyone acting in direct compliance with the prescribed part of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 no longer being subject to complaint under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
Recommendation 3—That the Government strengthens the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s powers to investigate complaints about television captioning matters and to require broadcasters to report annually on captioning levels.
Subscription television
Recommendation 4—That the Government includes captioning targets in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 for subscription broadcasters, provided appropriate targets can be agreed in the first quarter of 2011.
Electronic Program Guides
Recommendation 13—That the Governments call on Free TV Australia to coordinate efforts to improve electronic program guide accessibility, in conjunction with their international counterparts.
Recommendation 14—That the Government asks the Australian Communications and Media Authority to consider including accessibility features as a key requirement for electronic program guides, or to develop a Code of Practice for electronic program guides by 2012.
Recommendation 15—That the Government continues to investigate the technical specifications of set-top boxes to ensure set-top boxes are as user-friendly as possible and include specifications designed to assist people with hearing or vision impairments.
Set-top boxes
Recommendation 16—That the Government develops a website that allows manufacturers to list product and accessibility features of set-top boxes and digital equipment to enhance consumer awareness.
9 Responses
@Andrew: the subtitlers should have a copy of AFL Record as the last resort. What they have to do is to prepare before each footy match by examining the line-ups and read the team news, and make some notes.
@Johnson: If a subtitler trying to keep up with commentary on a footy game is expected to keep a copy of the Football Record beside them and look up player’s name, then they’re hardly going to be able to keep up with the subtitling are they.
Also, (i think there was an article on TV Tonight a while back regarding this) I believe that the subtitlers are using a type of keyboard shorthand when doing the captions, so some words like unusual names are not going to be there, so sometimes they can only do phonetic spelling rather than actual spelling. It might be a bit ordinary but it’s better than nothing.
I suppose the networks though will cry poor at having to source captioning for all this programming, will they use this is an excuse to suck another $250m from the public purse?
@Kenny – you missed the bit that says that 100% captioning will be on primary channels. So, not ABC2 or ABC3.
There is virtually no captioning on GO!, and even when there is they’re out of sync (eg Big Bang Theory).
GO!’s captioning is terrible. Most shows, even new ones, aren’t captioned, and those that are seem to miss every second sentence.
I do agree that the standards of captioning. Many US programs and movies come with their own captions (usually done by people at public station WGBH in Boston) but these captions are all in capital letters while our captions have small letters. Also, live captioning of sporting events such as AFL and NRL and reality shows such as MasterChef and X Factor have many errors because people who do captioning do not have good knowledge of the genre beforehand. For example, captioning staff who are responsible for AFL telecasts should have a copy of AFL Record next to them so they can check on the players’ names.
“100% captioning on primary channels between 6am and midnight.”. What would be the point of ABC1, ABC2 & ABC3 captioning their endless hours of pre-schoolers’ animated junk for viewers who can’t read yet?
More useful would be captioning on All channels from 5pm to 11pm, for a start.
EPGs? What a joke.
“That the Government continues to investigate the technical specifications of set-top boxes”. Why is Go-Lo still selling SD boxes for $19 and telling people “you will be able to watch all of the new channels”. That seems to be the level of knowledge the 16 y/o seller has. No mention of the fact it’s not HD. The Government should have had controls from the beginning on the sale of SD STBs.
It should be all channels, 24 hours a day.
The picture shows the problem with the ABC 7pm news captions.
They are always a few seconds behind the pictures and audio.
They used to be much better a couple of years ago, seemingly in time with the autocue.
Now with the delay it’s too distracting and we just switch them off.
We’re not deaf, just like to keep the volume to a minimum to not wake the kids.