Video: How to complain about commercial or pay TV

How do I make a complaint about captioning on commercial television or subscription television?

If you have a complaint about the quality of captions or lack of captions during a program broadcast on commercial television or subscription television, you can complain directly to the ACMA.

You will need to give enough information to identify which program the complaint is about. For example, you will need to give the date of broadcast, the program name and the television channel, you will also need to give your contact details and explain the problem you have experienced with the captioning service.

Once the ACMA has received a complaint, ACMA staff may contact you to get further information. The information you provide may be provided to the broadcaster or licensee as part of the ACMA’s enquiries. Your personal information will not be provided without your consent.

If the ACMA decides to investigate your complaint, ACMA staff will contact the broadcaster or licensee with details of your complaint and request that they provide the ACMA with a copy of the recording of the program with the captions. The ACMA will then assess the recording to see whether it complies with the captioning requirements, including whether the captions are readable, accurate and comprehensible, so that they are meaningful to viewers.

If the issue is a technical one you may want to contact the broadcaster or licensee first or ACMA staff may contact you to ask if your details can be provided to the broadcaster or licensee for them to contact you directly to help work out a solution to the problem. For more information about problems with captioning visit the ACMA website.

At the completion of an investigation, you will be notified and the ACMA will publish an investigation report on the ACMA website.

If the ACMA finds that your complaint isn’t related to a matter covered by the captioning laws, it may not be possible to take your complaint any further. If this is the case ACMA staff will tell you and, where possible, advise who else may be able to help.

You can contact the ACMA via

Customer Service Centre on 1300 850 115

Manager

Diversity, Localism and Accessibility Section

Broadcasting Safeguards Branch

Australian Communications and Media Authority

PO Box Q500

Queen Victoria Building NSW 1230

You can also contact the ACMA through the National Relay Service

Go to call this number 1300 850 115

Phone: 1300 555 727 and give them this number 1300 850 115

TTY: Call 133 677 and give them this number 1300 850 115

SMS: send an SMS to 0423 677 767 and give them this number 1300 850 115