Investigation Report No. 2898

File No. / ACMA2012/1318
Licensee / Northern Rivers Television Pty Ltd
Station / NRN Ballina (Northern New South Wales)
Type of Service / Commercial Television broadcasting
Name of Program / Modern Family
Date/s of Broadcast / 2 September 2012
Relevant Legislation/Code / Section 130ZR(1) of Part 9D[Captioning] of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA)
Clause 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the BSA
Date finalised / 23 January 2013
Decision / Breach clause 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the BSA

The complaint

On 2 September 2012, theAustralian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) received a complaint alleging that NRN failed to provide captioning for the programModern Familybroadcast on the same day at 7 pm.

As this complaint relates to a licence condition, itwas made directly to the ACMA without written reference to NRN.The ACMA has investigated the licensee’s compliance withclause 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the BSA in accordance with section 147(b) of the BSA.[1]

The program

ModernFamily[2]is a half hour comedy program with fictional characters. The storylines are based on the lives of three related families.For the episode in question, there is one main storyline and two minor storylines. This 7pm broadcast was followed by another half hour broadcast of Modern Family at 7.30pm.

The main storyline is aboutthe visiting grandmother and her recently acquired youngerboyfriend. The boyfriend is also her daughter’s ex-boyfriend.

The episode was broadcast with captions for up to 26 minutes and 43 seconds. After the last advertisement break, the final segment of 99 seconds was not captioned. Two storylines conclude and eventually credits begin to simultaneously appear through the conclusion of the minor storylines. The program finishes at 28 minutes and 22 seconds.

Assessment

The assessment is based on written submissions from the complainant and the licensee, and a copy of the broadcast which was provided by the licensee to the ACMA. The copy of the broadcast was reviewed initiallywithout audio and subsequently with audio.

Issue: Did the licensee provide a captioning service for the broadcast of Modern Familyon 2 September 2012?

Relevant provisions

Clause 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 and relevant sections of Part 9D of the BSA are set out at Attachment A.

Complainant’s submissions

The complainant wrote the following to the ACMA on 2 September 2012:

I was just watching "Modern Family" tonight on Ten [sic] (7:00pm to 7:30pm) and the closed captions were fine until the last 5 minutes or so, when they vanished or were left off inadvertently.

They then re-appeared for the 2nd episode of Modern Family [sic] from 7:30pm to 8:00pm.

[...]

Licensee submissions

The licensee’s response to the ACMA, dated 26 October 2012, included the following:

[...]

It seems that in the last 90 [sic] seconds of [Modern Family] captioning ‘fell off’.

At the outset, NRN accepts that the captioning service provided on the relevant episode of [Modern Family] was inadequate in the Lismore area only.

The inadequate captioning service the complainant complained about is currently unknown to our engineers. Our engineers have reinvestigated the monitoring of this service and increased the level of monitoring on this particular market.

[...]

NRN advised that it was unaware of the missing captions until the ACMA sought from it a copy of the broadcast and comments.

Finding

The ACMA is of theview that NRN,in relation to the broadcast ofModern Familyon
2 September 2012,breachedsection 130ZR(1) of Part 9D of the BSA and is therefore in breach ofclause 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the BSA.

Reasons

The licensee was required to provide a captioning service for the program as it was broadcast during designated viewing hours (6pm to 10.30pm) (see subsection 130ZR(1) of the BSA).

The final segment of 99 seconds at the conclusion of this episode of Modern Family, which revealed the outcome of two storylines, was not captioned. The ACMA considers that without captioning, it is not clear how the stories concluded.

NRN conceded that the program was not adequately captioned in its letter of 26 October 2012.

In considering whether a particular broadcaster has satisfied the captioning obligations, the ACMA has regard to all the relevant quality indicatorsset out at Attachment B, and most importantly, the cumulative effect of their application rather than assessing a broadcast against each individual criterion. The ACMA found that each of the quality indicators was met for the majority of the program however noted that crucially, the lack of captioning in the final segment, impacted on the overall comprehensibility of this episode.

In these circumstances, the ACMA finds that NRN did not provide a captioning service, in respect of this episode of Modern Family, as required under section 130ZR(1) of Part 9D of the BSA and is therefore in breach ofclause 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the BSA.

The ACMA notes the action NRN is taking to ensure compliance with Part 9D of the BSA including making contact with the complainant (permitted by the complainant). The ACMA also understands that NRN engineers are currently reinvestigating their monitoring processes for transmission into the Lismore viewing area.

ATTACHMENT A

Division1—General

7 Conditions of commercial television broadcasting licences

1.

[...]

(o) if a provision of Part9D (which deals with captioning of television programs for the deaf and hearing impaired) applies to the licensee—the licensee will comply with that provision;

[...]

Part9D—Captioning

Division1—Introduction

130ZL Designated viewing hours

Programs transmitted before 1July 2014

(1) For the purposes of the application of this Part to programs transmitted before 1July 2014, designated viewing hours are the hours:

(a) beginning at 6 pm each day or, if another time is prescribed, beginning at that prescribed time each day; and

(b) ending at 10.30 pm on the same day or, if another time is prescribed, ending at that prescribed time on the same day.

[...]

Division2—Captioning obligations of commercial television broadcasting licensees and national broadcasters

130ZR Captioning obligations—basic rule

Basic rule

(1) Each commercial television broadcasting licensee, and each national broadcaster, must provide a captioning service for:

(a) television programs transmitted during designated viewing hours; and

(b) television news or current affairs programs transmitted outside designated viewing hours.

Note: For compliance by licensees, see clause7 of Schedule2.

ATTACHMENT B

CONSIDERATIONS – THE QUALITY OF CAPTIONING

Introduction

The ACMA is committed to ensuring that the captioning services provided by television broadcasters give the deaf and hearing-impaired community meaningful access to television.

As part of this commitment the ACMA uses the quality indicators set out below to assess the overall readability and comprehensibility of closed captioning.

In considering whether a particular broadcaster has satisfied the captioning obligations, the ACMA has regard to all of the relevant quality indicators and, most importantly, the cumulative effect of their application rather than assessing a broadcast against each individual criteria.

Quality Indicators

Grammar and Presentation

  1. In assessing closed captions during programs, the ACMA will have regard to the extent that:
  1. punctuation is used to make captions as easy as possible for viewers to read;
  1. punctuation conveys, as much as possible, the way speech is delivered;
  1. sentence case is used where practical;
  1. spelling is, as far as practicable, accurate;
  1. repetition of information that is already on the screen (such as the name of a presenter or temperatures in a weather report) is avoided;
  1. as far as practicable, closed captions do not overlap or impede any text based information already on the screen.

Timing and Editing

  1. In assessing closed captions during programs, the ACMA will have regard to the extent that:
  1. closed captions coincide with the relevant soundtrack, so that the relationship between sound and visuals is preserved for the viewer;
  1. closed captions stay as close as possible to the original wording while allowing the viewer enough time to read the captions and still watch the action of the program;
  1. where time allows, and where practical, closed captions are verbatim (word for word);
  1. having regard to the intended audience, text reduction remains faithful to the script, and vocabulary and sentence structure is preserved as much as possible;
  1. line breaks reflect the natural flow of a sentence and its punctuation;
  1. closed captions are not consistently more than three lines in length (the preference is for one-line or two-line captions to be used);
  1. during live closed captioning:

a)captions coincide as closely as possible with the relevant soundtrack, so that the relationship between the visuals and the sound is preserved for the viewer;

b)the priority is always to transcribe as much of the spoken content of the program as possible is transcribed.

Identification of Different Speakers

  1. In assessing closed captions during programs, where there are different speakers,the ACMA will have regard to the extent thatbroadcasters have ensured that, as far as possible, the captions clearly identify and distinguish each speaker. This should be done through varying the colouring of the closed captioning, and as far as possible, varying the positioning of the closed captions (see 4 and 5 below).

Colour and Font

  1. In assessing closed captions during programs, the ACMA will have regard to the extent that:
  1. white closed captionsare used as much as possible as they are the easiest to read;
  1. sound effects are identified using a different colour and the same colour is used for all sound effects throughout the program;
  1. if using colour to denote different speakers, as far as possible, a different colour isused for each speaker.

Positioning

  1. In assessing closed captions during programs, the ACMA will have regard to the extent that:
  1. as far as possible, positioning of closed captions avoids obscuring important information on the screen, such as action, superimposed text, graphic text descriptors or activities, or the speaker’s lips.
  2. as far as possible, positioning is varied to identify who is speaking.

Sound Effects

  1. In assessing closed captions during programs, the ACMA will have regard to the extent that:
  1. any noise or music that enhances the visuals, contributes to characterisation or adds atmosphere, is captioned;
  2. a viewer does not receive any more information than a hearing viewer would get.

ACMA Final Investigation Report – Modern Family broadcast by NRNon 2 September 2012

1

[1]Section 147(b) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 sets out the ACMA’s role in investigating complaints about breaches of a licence condition.

[2]Episode 15 of Season 2