Notice of inquiry: Closed captioning of TV material

Notice of inquiry: Closed
captioning of TV material

The Human Rights and
Equal Opportunity Commission is inquiring under the Disability Discrimination
Act into access to closed captioning of television broadcast and cable
program services in Australia. The inquiry is intended to inform the Commission
in performing the functions set out in that Act.

Submissions are invited
on issues which the Commission ought to consider, including

• the extent of captioning
  currently provided
• any technical, financial
  or other constraints on captioning, generally or regarding particular
  classes of material
• relevance of developments
  in digital technology
• any plans or commitments
  for increasing the level of captioning provided, prior to and following
  conversion to digital transmission
• any issues regarding
  availability and pricing of television receivers with capacity to decode
  captions
• the relationship
  to existing obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act of current
  legislative proposals in the Television
  Broadcasting Services (Digital Conversion) Bill
  and the Captioning
  for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Bill
• relevance of overseas
  requirements in this area including the United StatesClosed
  Captioning Rules
• actions which the
  Commission should take or recommend to government, Parliament or relevant
  regulatory agencies
• whether the Commission
  ought to extend its inquiry to include captioning of videos for rental,
  sale or other distribution.

The Commission intends
to make submissions available on its Internet site and, after considering
initial submissions, to produce an issues paper for public comment in
a second stage of the inquiry. Any confidential information submitted
should be clearly marked as such and be accompanied by a non-confidential
summary. Submissions are requested by 4 September 1998, preferably by
email to disability@humanrights.gov.au. Submissions may also be sent by mail to
David Mason, Captioning Inquiry, HREOC, Box 5218, Sydney 1042. Where submissions
are sent by mail a copy on IBM format disc is requested if possible.