Graeme Innes
Deputy Disability Discrimination Commissioner

RE: Temporary exemption application under DDA Section 55: Broadcast television captioning

The Australian Association of the Deaf was one of the parties to the negotiation process in the recent breakthrough agreement between Commercial Television Authority (CTVA) and Australian Association of the Deaf, Deafness Forum and Western Australia Deafness Council. Australian Association of the Deaf supports the exemption application lodged by the television networks.

Brief outline of the agreement:

• By 2005, 55% of programs (6.00am to midnight) will be captioned;
• By 2007, 70% of programs (6.00am to midnight) will be captioned;
• 80% captioning of pre-school and children programs will be achieved by 2007;
  

CTVA and broadcasters to support actions seeking government to:

• Require caption decoders in all new television equipment; and
• Improve availability of VHS and DVD players which allow recording of close captioned television programs
• Broadcaster to commence review process in 2006.
  

It is AAD’s position that free to air television should be 100% captioned and this is still our first and foremost goal. AAD intends to pursue this goal when the exemption period ends, but for the period of the exemption, AAD supports the exemption. AAD is particularly pleased and appreciative of the television networks' commitment to increasing captioning content, particularly for children's programs.

Kyle Miers
Convenor - Caption Subcommittee
Australian Association of the Deaf
TTY: 02 6287 4394
Phone: 133677 quote 02 6287 4394
Fax: (02) 6287 4395
email: actdrc@austarmetro.com.au