Notice of temporary exemption application: Australian Subscription Television And Radio Association (ASTRA)

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Exemption application

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has received, by letter dated 12 April 2004, an application for temporary exemption under section 55 of the DDA regarding the provision of captions on subscription television, for a period of five years.

The exemption application is attached.

An extract from the exemption application is set out below:

• The subscription television industry (the Industry) will commence a rollout plan in relation to the captioning of programming offered by subscription television providers in conjunction with the launch of FOXTEL Digital and the relaunch of AUSTAR digital services (Digital Launch) in the first half of 2004.
• This rollout plan represents a comprehensive commitment by the Industry to greatly increase the amount of captioned television available to both Deaf and hearing impaired Australians.
• Captions will be able to be viewed by all subscribers to FOXTEL’s and AUSTAR’s^[*] new digital television services. Digital Subscribers will not need a teletext-enabled TV to view captions.
• Non-Digital subscription television subscribers may also receive captions if they have a teletext-enabled TV. This includes subscribers to the OPTUS analogue cable service and FOXTEL’s analogue cable service.
• It is FOXTEL’s intention to phase out its analogue cable service and migrate all existing subscribers to FOXTEL Digital within the next few years.
• 20 channels will be enabled for captioning from Captioning Launch.
• The Applicants will use reasonable endeavours to enable a further 20 channels within 24 months of Captioning Launch.
• Minimum channel commitments for captioning are presented in the undertakings schedule attached. Captioning will commence at 5% of the total hours of applicable channel programming in the first year of captioning increasing by an additional 5% each year thereafter for the duration (or part thereof) of the 5-year rollout plan for each enabled channel, reaching a maximum of 25% of total hours of programming for those channels which started captioning in the first year of the Exemption.
• Targets are presented over a full 24-hour broadcast period. ASTRA understands the captioning ‘broadcast period’ of the Open broadcasters (ie ABC, SBS, and all commercial broadcasters) is an 18-hour broadcast period.
• ASTRA, on behalf of its members, will report annually on compliance with these targets.
• Before the conclusion of the 5-year period covered by this application, ASTRA will review compliance with the plan and prepare a further plan. In accordance with ASTRA Codes of Practice (clause 2.4), ASTRA will consult with organisations representing Deaf and hearing impaired Australians and organisations specialising in providing closed captioning.
• In accordance with clause 2.4 of ASTRA’s Codes of Practice, where closed captioning is made available it will be clearly identified with program schedule information provided to the press and in program guides.
• Captioned programs will be identified in the FOXTEL Digital Guide with a ‘CC’ identifier and ASTRA members will use reasonable endeavours to identify captioned programs in other published program guides.
• In accordance with clause 2.4 of ASTRA’s Codes of Practice, ASTRA has consulted “with organisations representing deaf or hearing impaired and organisations specialising in providing closed-captioning.” An earlier draft of this application was circulated to the Australian Association of the Deaf, Deafness Forum and the Deafness Council of Western Australia for consideration and comment prior to finalisation and lodgement.
• Given the diversity and complexity of the subscription television channels and Platforms in Australia including channels whose ownership is shared by more than 40 separate international and Australian companies, ASTRA believes this proposal is a comprehensive and practical solution to the provision of captioning to Deaf and hearing impaired Australians.
• Finally, while direct comparisons between the subscription television and Open broadcast industries is of limited relevance, given the relative immaturity of subscription television and the maturity of the Open broadcasting sector, it is noteworthy that ASTRA’s proposal will deliver more captioned programming on subscription television by 2005 than that offered by the Open broadcasters at that time, in accordance with their own rollout. By 2008, in the final year of ASTRA’s 5-year commitment, this will have increased subscription television’s total captioned hours to more than five times the amount of captioning currently on Australian television.

Call for submissions

In accordance with its policy on exemption applications, the Commission seeks to give interested parties an opportunity to participate in the process of considering this application.

Accordingly, the Commission seeks submissions by 20 May 2003, preferably by email to disabdis@humanrights.gov.au. Submissions may also be addressed by mail to: Disability Rights Unit, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, GPO Box 5218, Sydney 1042. Where submissions are made by mail a copy on disc should be included if possible.

To promote open public discussion and exchange of views, the Commission intends to make submission publicly available by posting submissions made electronically on its Internet site. Requests for material to be treated as confidential should be clearly indicated.

The following submissions have been received:

Women with Disabilities Australia (MS Word)

K.Balaam

Deafness Forum of Australia

G.Kerridge

Deafness Council of Western Australia (MS Word)

L.Evans and 21 others (not submitted electronically)

A.Schauder

Y. Batterham

Australian Association of the Deaf (MS Word)

The Commission will decide further actions on this matter after considering submissions received.

Graeme Innes

Deputy Disability Discrimination Commissioner

20 April 2004

[*AUSTAR is due to upgrade Digital STU’s for all new digital subscribers in July 2004. Subject to a successful upgrade, this will enable all new digital subscribers to access captioning on screen, without a teletext-enabled TV. All AUSTAR digital subscribers who have teletext enabled televisions may also receive captions]