WIN TV cleared over captioning complaint

WIN TV has been cleared by the media watchdog over a complaint not being available on Judge Judy.

A complaint to the Australian Communications & Media Authority claimed that since an affiliate switch last July WIN TV in Mildura has not been broadcasting captions for the deaf and hearing impaired community. They cited an episode of Judge Judy on July 21st 2121 as an example.

Under the Broadcasting Services Act licensees must provide a captioning service for programs transmitted on main channel between 6 am and midnight.

WIN advised that some viewers might not have been able to access the captioning service due to a technical issue but that a captioning service was available and could be accessed if it was selected using the manual “TXT 801” process on the television remote instead of the short-cut “SUBT” function.

It conceded the error was theirs but that the matter was resolved on Thursday 29th July 2021.

ACMA found that while some viewers might not have been able to access the captioning service through their preferred method on the television remote -a captioning service was capable of being accessed.

It ruled there was no breach by WIN TV.

Would Judge Judy have ruled in favour of the broadcaster too….?