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ACMA remakes TV captioning standard

ACMA to engage with broadcasters and deaf and hard of hearing community around captioning issues.

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New captioning compliance guidelines for TV networks will be developed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

ACMA will be engaging with the broadcasting industry and the deaf and hard of hearing community over the coming months to discuss captioning issues raised during a recent review, including how a metric measurement model trial could be conducted.

Meanwhile ACMA has also announced the Broadcasting Services (Television Captioning) Standard 2023, which replaces the Broadcasting Services (Television Captioning) Standard 2013 that was due to sunset on 1 October 2023. The standard has been remade without substantial changes after ACMA concluded the existing rules were operating effectively.

However there have also been a number of recent captioning breaches including by Nine, Seven and WIN TV.

A draft version of the guidelines is expected to be released later this year for public consultation.

10 Responses

  1. Every channel should have closed captions. I mean GO , GEM , PEACH, 7 TWO, all of them. Federal government should make it compulsory for every channel to have closed captions. Channel 7 and Foxtel have done a wonderful job with the closed captions for the deaf.

  2. Captioning is very important. One day you could lose your hearing. At the same time, the industry has been saying for years that captioning is very difficult, which is correct through further analysis. It requires a very good knowledge of languages and speech. It’s not an easy task. This is one of those essential services to the communities, so I think that’s where investment is needed. As I mentioned, it’s essential services and that’s what the government is there for, or is expected from the government.

    1. Captioning should be easy. Unless it’s a true live broadcast. Almost everything these days has a script (even the news). Everything is timed to the millisecond so that regional affiliates can schedule ads and know when to resume. How did court stenographers manage to get it all down live without making witnesses repeat themselves?

    2. Well why not join the bandwagon riders and use AI…isn’t that the latest trend getting banded about.?…it does recognise speech and languages ….if it’s supposedly that good I see no problem other than people complaining it’s too costly, complicated or doing someone out of a job…but those using it now have very few complaints.

      1. A lot of it already easy. Sky News Australia and Fox Sports captioning is fully automated. It can lead to some odd captioning at times, especially musical performances.

        1. Yes I have Foxtel …I know… I regularly have to reboot the IQ5 to reset the settings…(especially audio and picture going in the background even though I have them turned off in settings) when I am scrolling through the EPG or Library….that’s the delights of digital age….thanks.

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