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Welcome to the TV and Movie Captioning Group
BREAKING NEWS, Thurs 17 June 2004 Ministerial Press Release about Pay TV Captioning Monday, 7 June 2004
Application for an exemption from the provisions of the DDA by the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) for a period of five years in regard to the provision of captioning on pay television channels. The application proposes a staged introduction of captioning on pay tv channels during the period of the exemption, reaching 25% of programming by the end of the five year period. It includes provision for the negotiation of further increases after that time. Such negotiation would occur during the five year period. The Notice Of Application may be viewed at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/exemptions/astra/astra.htm The notice calls for submissions between now and 20 May 2004. The submission period is shorter than usual, given the extensive negotiations which have already occurred between ASTRA and the Deaf and hearing impaired community. Submissions are preferred by email to disabdis@humanrights.gov.au and are normally published on the Commission's website.
Purpose of this group: This group is for people who are interested in Captions (sometimes also called "Subtitles") for television and movies. It covers both Closed Captions, which you need special equipment on your TV, VCR or DVD player to see, or Open Captions, which everybody who watches the show sees. It can include any related matter concerning captioning, such as content, problems, equipment, availability or lack of captions, advertising, program promotions, etc., etc., on any audio/video medium - e.g. free to air TV, Pay TV, DVDs, video cassettes, hospitals, hotel accommodation, the Web, computer software and so on. You might be coming from a perspective of a Deaf or Hearing Impaired person (I'm the latter), or their family, carers, educators and supporters. Maybe you're working in the captioning or program production industry itself? Or possibly you're from a non-English-speaking background, or have a different English accent and would find Captions of use for you to help learn to listen to English better. Then again, maybe you'd just like to watch a movie with the sound turned down! Whatever the reason you're interested in captioning, you're welcome here. It's a place for constructive criticism and for just letting everyone know where captions have let you down or have been a great success for you, or asking what is this subtitling thing, where can you get it and how can you use it. SPAMMING in this group won't be allowed. Spammers and their posts will be removed and, where appropriate, reported to their internet company if serious enough. You know what I mean, I'm sure, but if you've any concerns please contact the Group Manager offline and I'll be happy to discuss it. Please respect each other's views and privacy. I want this to be a place where we can discuss issues frankly, from a constructive and positive frame of reference. Although this Group is Australian in flavour, people from all around the world are invited to join in, as I'm sure there will be many issues in common. Hearing about how people in other countries have implemented captioning or solved problems can be of great benefit to all in this Group. If you already have a Hotmail or ninemsn ".NET passport" you can join this Group right away. If you don't have one yet, you can get one for free from the following link in just a few minutes: http://membership.ninemsn.com.au/whyhotmail.asp. |
