This submission concerns the Exposure Draft amendment to the Broadcasting Services Act (1992), which will provide greater access to our foremost medium for news, information and entertainment.

For too long members of our community with different accessibility needs have been provided with the bare minimum of access. ACCAN strongly endorses these amendments which will, if not provide an equity of service, improve the levels of access for Australian television viewers who rely on closed-captions; be that because of Deafness, a hearing impairment or other reasons.

Summary: ACCAN is encouraged by these positive improvements to the BSA, which aim to provide greater access and usability to television for Australian consumers who rely on closed-captions. We look forward to the 2012 review of multi-channels as recommended in the 2010 Multi-Channel report to address the failure of current requirements to provide adequate levels of closed-captions across all free-to-air broadcasts.

Submission to: Department of Broadband, Communications & the Digital Economy 

Status: Submitted

Download: Broadcasting Services Amendment (Improved Access to Television Services) Bill 2012 [Adobe Acrobat PDF - 308.79 KB]
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Broadcasting Services Amendment (Improved Access to Television Services) Bill 2012 [Word Document - 901.5 KB]