Television captioning
The Broadcasting Services Act 1992 provides for the captioning of free-to-air television programs. In addition, under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, disability discrimination is unlawful and the Act aims to promote equal opportunity and access for people with disabilities. For more information about the regulatory framework, see the television captioning background page.
Captioning is the presentation of the audio component of audio-visual content as text on screen. It is generally intended to assist viewers with a hearing impairment.
Captions include descriptions of sounds, laughter and music and are usually situated on screen to minimise interference with the picture. They are timed to appear with speech and are usually coloured and positioned to indicate who is speaking. Where speaker identification is not relevant, captions are usually in the form of white writing on a black backdrop.
Two types of captioning are generally used—closed and open. In relation to television captioning, closed captions are encoded into the television signal as teletext data, for example. Closed captions are then decoded and viewed with a decoder or teletext capable television or capable digital set-top box. Open captions are overlayed or burnt onto the original print recording of a program and do not require a decoderr.
In December 2010, the Department completed an investigation into access to electronic media for the hearing and vision—impaired that involved significant public consultation. For more information, please see the media access review page.
