AustraliaBroadcasting Services Act 1992, captioning obligations of commercial and subscription television licensees (Part 9D)
Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth), Part 9D
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding private bodies.
As of .
What it requires
- If you hold a commercial television broadcasting license, provide a captioning service for television programs transmitted between 6 am and midnight and for news or current affairs programs transmitted at any other hour (ss. 130ZL(2) and 130ZR(1)); on an SDTV or HDTV multi-channelled service, that duty reaches only programs previously transmitted on your primary service, and you must caption a program there whenever you captioned it when you previously transmitted it on another of your services (ss. 130ZR(4) and (5) and 130ZS(1) and (2)).
- If you hold a subscription television license, caption at least the annual captioning target of each subscription television service's program hours in each financial year, a target set by category of service for 2014-15 that rises by 5% a year to 100% (s. 130ZV), and caption repeats, and simultaneous transmissions on another of your services, of programs you captioned before (ss. 130ZZ and 130ZZAA).
- Meet the captioning standards the ACMA determines on the quality of captions, including readability, comprehensibility and accuracy (s. 130ZZA).
- When you transmit an emergency warning at the request of an emergency service agency, transmit the whole warning as text and as speech, and caption it if reasonably practicable (s. 130ZZB).
- Give the ACMA an annual captioning compliance report within 90 days after each financial year, and keep written and audio-visual records of your compliance for the periods section 130ZZD sets; a subscription television licensee owes these duties if it is a body corporate (ss. 130ZZC and 130ZZD).
- Part 9D does not apply to programs wholly in a language other than English or to programs whose audio is only music without recognizable English vocal content; advertising and sponsorship matter are not programs; a breach caused by significant technical or engineering difficulties you could not reasonably have foreseen is disregarded; and the ACMA may make an exemption order or a target reduction order where refusing one would impose an unjustifiable hardship on you (ss. 130ZK, 130ZM, 130ZN, 130ZUA, 130ZUB, 130ZY and 130ZZAB).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Breaching a license condition, including the condition to comply with Part 9D, is an offense carrying 2,000 penalty units for a commercial television broadcasting licensee (s. 139(1)), 1,000 penalty units for a subscription television broadcasting licensee (s. 139(2)) and 50 penalty units for a provider of a subscription narrowcasting service under the class license (s. 139(6)), with a separate offense for each day the breach continues (s. 140). Contravening an ACMA remedial direction carries 20,000 penalty units for a commercial television broadcasting licensee and 2,000 penalty units for a subscription television broadcasting licensee, with a separate offense for each day (s. 142). The same breaches are civil penalty provisions, with a penalty no higher than the maximum on conviction for the corresponding offense (ss. 140A, 142A and 205F(4)). Section 4B(3) of the Crimes Act 1914 lets a court fine a body corporate up to 5 times the maximum for a natural person, and a penalty unit is $330 under section 4AA of that Act, subject to indexation on and each third 1 July after that.
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA); the Federal Court of Australia makes civil penalty orders
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
The record-keeping and annual reporting duties bind a subscription television licensee only if it is a body corporate (ss. 130ZZC(5) and 130ZZD(1)).
- As of
- Combinator
- Any of
- Criteria
- is a commercial television broadcasting licensee (s. 130ZR)
- is a subscription television licensee: a subscription television broadcasting licensee, or a person who provides a subscription television narrowcasting service under a class license (s. 130ZK)
What this law does
Part 9D of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 requires broadcasters to comply with rules and standards relating to captioning of television programs for the deaf and hearing impaired. Each commercial television broadcasting licensee must provide a captioning service for television programs transmitted during designated viewing hours, and for television news or current affairs programs transmitted outside designated viewing hours (section 130ZR).
For programs transmitted on or after , designated viewing hours begin at 6 am and end at midnight each day, unless other times are prescribed (section 130ZL).
A licensee's SDTV or HDTV multi-channelled services need captions only for programs previously transmitted on its primary commercial television broadcasting service, and a license allocated under subsection 40(1) carries no captioning duty during the first year of operation of the license or a longer period the ACMA allows by written notice.
A subscription television licensee must ensure that, for each subscription television service it provides in a financial year, the share of program hours captioned is not less than the annual captioning target for the service, which the Act set by category of service for the financial year beginning on and raises by 5% each later financial year up to 100% (section 130ZV).
A service that only repeats the stream of another of the licensee's services, or simultaneously transmits it in high definition, is excluded, and a new service that predominantly consists of programs not transmitted in Australia before it began is excluded until the financial year beginning on the first 1 July that is at least 1 year after it began.
A subscription television licensee must also caption a repeat of a program it captioned before, and a program it simultaneously transmits on another of its services where it captions the first transmission (sections 130ZZ and 130ZZAA).
Part 9D does not apply to a program wholly in a language other than English or to a program whose audio component consists only of music with no recognizable English vocal content, and a program does not include advertising or sponsorship matter, community service announcements or emergency warnings. A breach attributable to significant difficulties of a technical or engineering nature that could not reasonably have been foreseen is disregarded (sections 130ZUB and 130ZZAB).
The ACMA may, on application, make an exemption order or a target reduction order for a specified service and period, but only if satisfied that a refusal would impose an unjustifiable hardship on the applicant, having regard among other matters to the impact on deaf or hearing impaired viewers and the applicant's financial circumstances (sections 130ZUA and 130ZY).
Licensees must comply with the standards the ACMA determines on the quality of captioning services, which includes readability, comprehensibility and accuracy (section 130ZZA). A licensee that transmits an emergency warning at the request of an emergency service agency must transmit the whole of it in text and in speech and, if reasonably practicable, provide a captioning service for it (section 130ZZB).
A commercial television broadcasting licensee, and a subscription television licensee that is a body corporate, must give the ACMA an annual compliance report within 90 days after the end of each financial year and keep written and audio-visual records of compliance, and the ACMA publishes the reports (sections 130ZZC and 130ZZD).
Complying with an applicable provision of Part 9D is a condition of a commercial television broadcasting license, of a subscription television broadcasting license, and of the class license for subscription and open narrowcasting services (Schedule 2, clauses 7, 10 and 11).
Breaching such a condition is an offense carrying 2,000 penalty units for a commercial television broadcasting licensee and 1,000 penalty units for a subscription television broadcasting licensee, and 50 penalty units for a provider of a subscription narrowcasting service that breaches a condition of its class license, with a separate offense for each day the breach continues (sections 139 and 140).
The same breaches are civil penalty provisions, for which the Federal Court may order a pecuniary penalty no higher than the maximum that could have been imposed on conviction for the corresponding offense, with a separate contravention for each day it continues (sections 140A and 205F).
The ACMA may direct a licensee in breach of a license condition to take action to avoid breaching it again, and contravening the direction is an offense carrying 20,000 penalty units for a commercial television broadcasting licensee and 2,000 penalty units for a subscription television broadcasting licensee (sections 141 and 142).
Part 9D was inserted by the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Improved Access to Television Services) Act 2012, which received assent on and whose Schedule 1 commenced on .
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