Following a comprehensive review into the quality of TV captions, the ACMA has made the Broadcasting Services (Television Captioning) Standard 2023. This replaces the Broadcasting Services (Television Captioning) Standard 2013, which was due to sunset on 1 October 2023.
This standard is designed to assist viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing, by setting requirements for Australian free-to-air TV and subscription TV broadcasters to provide program captioning that is readable, accurate and comprehensible.
After undertaking research and consulting with stakeholders, the ACMA concluded the existing rules were operating effectively to deliver meaningful captions for deaf or hard of hearing viewers. As such, the standard has been remade without substantial changes.
In response to feedback we received during the review, new captioning compliance guidelines will also be developed to give broadcasters and viewers a clearer understanding of how the ACMA applies the rules.
A draft version of the guidelines is expected to be released later this year for public consultation.
The ACMA will also be engaging with representatives from the broadcasting industry and the deaf and hard of hearing community over the coming months to discuss other captioning issues raised during the review, including how a metric measurement model trial could be conducted.
