CAPTIONING
Closed Captioning for the hearing impaired assists people with hearing disabilities to have access to television programs by displaying the audio content of those programs as text on the screen.
Provisions relating to closed captioning are outlined in the relevant ASTRA codes of practice for the subscription broadcast television; subscription narrowcast television and open narrowcast industries in Australia.
The subscription television industry in Australia has committed to a number of undertakings to obtain an exemption from complaint under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) is currently reviewing ASTRA’s application for exemption in light of ongoing commitments to improve access for deaf and hearing impaired viewers made by the industry.
Read more about closed captioning
ASTRA’s POSITION
The subscription television industry is committed to upholding its responsibilities and obligations under the various legislative requirements to deliver its services to the Australian community.
Subscription television assists the deaf and hearing impaired by captioning thousands of hours of television content on over 40 channels across all programming genres.
In 2009 ASTRA and its members delivered approximately 120,000 hours of captioning – well in excess of agreed levels.
ASTRA is currently in the process of negotiating a new agreement containing further improvements with the HREOC.
Q&A
What is captioning?
Captioning is the text presentation of dialogue and other relevant sounds such as laughter and music that appear on screen as part of the program content.
Does it cost extra to receive captioning as part of a subscription television service?
There is no extra cost to subscribers for captioning services on subscription television platforms.
Can I record on FOXTEL iQ/ FOXTEL iQ2 or MyStar box with closed captions?
Closed captioning information is automatically recorded and played back the same as if you were watching a live television program with closed captioning.
