To ensure greater certainty for consumers, it is ACCAN’s position that the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 remains the most appropriate place for subscription television captioning requirements to be set out. [...] While the current subscription television captioning requirements do not always meet consumer needs and should be revised, ACCAN believes that removing any of the captioning obligations from the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 would be of great concern to consumers. [...] This argument was most recently outlined in our response to the Media Reform Green Paper.1 It is therefore our position that while subscription television captioning requirements do need to be reviewed and simplified, this should be done as part of a broader amendment of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to embed the same levels of access features (captioning, audio description and Auslan interpr. [...] Finally, ACCAN recognises that reform is necessary to effectively regulate the modern media landscape.2 Recent inquiries and consultations regarding Digital Platforms3 and Media Reform,4 as well as the 3-year extension of the Broadcasting Services (“Broadcasting Service” Definition – Exclusion) Determination 2019 (the Alston Determination)5 highlights the desire to ensure regulations are future fo. [...] However, given this ongoing work to modernise media regulations, ACCAN urges the Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications to consider whether this Amendment is premature, particularly considering that amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 have also been proposed in the Media Reform Green Paper.
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