Investigation Report No. BI-168

Summary
File no. / BI-168
Broadcaster / Northern Rivers Television Pty Ltd
Station / Southern Cross Ten
Type of service / Commercial Television
Name of program / I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Dates of broadcasts / Sunday 31 January 2016 6:30pm;Monday 1 February 2016 7:30pm;Tuesday 2 February 2016 7:30pm;Wednesday 3 February 2016 7:30pm;Thursday 4 February 2016 7:30pm;Sunday 7 February 2016 6:30pm; andMonday 8 February 2016 7:30pm.
Relevant Legislation/Standard /
  • subsection 130ZR(1) of Part 9D (captioning) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA);
  • the Broadcasting Services (Television Captioning) Standard 2013 (the Captioning Quality Standard);
  • subsection 130ZZA(4) Part 9D (compliance with the Captioning Quality Standard) to the BSA; and
  • subsection 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the BSA

Date Finalised / 15 April 2016
Decision / The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) made the following findings:
  • the licensee provided a captioning service in accordance with subsection 130ZR(1) of the BSA;
  • the licensee complied with the Captioning Quality Standard and subsection 130ZZA(4) of the BSA; and
  • the licensee complied with the licence condition under subsection 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the BSA.

Opening

On 15 February 2016, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) commenced an investigation under section 149 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA) into a complaint about the captioning service for the program, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!(the Program), broadcast on Southern Cross Ten by Northern Rivers Television Pty Ltd (the licensee) on the following dates and times:

  • Sunday 31 January 2016 6:30pm;
  • Monday 1 February 2016 7:30pm;
  • Tuesday 2 February 2016 7:30pm;
  • Wednesday 3 February 2016 7:30pm;
  • Thursday 4 February 2016 7:30pm;
  • Sunday 7 February 2016 6:30pm; and
  • Monday 8 February 2016 7:30pm (the relevant broadcasts).

The complainant alleged that on repeated occasions during the relevant broadcasts of the Program, the captioning service hada time lag of 20 seconds or more behind the audio soundtrack and/or otherwise breached the Captioning Quality Standard.

The ACMA exercised its discretion under the BSA to investigate whether the licensee:

  • provided a captioning service under subsection 130ZR(1) of the BSA;
  • complied with the Captioning Quality Standard andsubsection 130ZZA(4) of the BSA; and/or
  • complied with the licence condition under subsection 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the BSA.

The investigation takes into account both the complainant’s submission and submissions from the licensee. Excerpts of relevant sections of the BSA are contained at Attachment A.

The Program

I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!is an Australian reality television series based on a British television show of the same name. The second season premiered on 31 January 2016 and ended on 13 March 2016. The producer of the Program, ITV Studios Australia, describedthe Program on its website as ‘family entertainment’[1].

The Program was set in Kruger National Park, South Africa. The ‘Ten Play’website contains detailed information about the Program and describedit as follows:

The prime time international hit I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Australia has returned to TEN with a new cast of celebrities who have left their comfortable lives behind to brave the jungle for a no-frills existence. With only each other to turn to, the celebrities will endure meagre food rations, basic accommodation and the harsh conditions of the South African jungle, all in the name of charity.[2]

Viewers of the Program would vote for celebrities to complete ‘risk-and-reward’ based physical tasks and puzzlesand also would vote to evict celebrities from the campsite. Celebrities were allowed to cease participating in a challenge or leave the campsite at any time during the Program by uttering the catchphrase ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!’. The winner of the Program would be the last remaining contestant, whois given the title of ‘King / Queen of the Jungle’ and awarded $100,000 as a donation to a charity of their choosing.

The Program was co-hosted by television personalitiesDr Chris Brown and Julia Morris. The 12 celebrity contestants by order of appearance and their description in the Program were:Akmal Saleh, Comedian; Bonnie Lythgoe, Stage and Screen Star; Anthony Callea, Singer; Courtney Hancock, Ironwoman; Paul Harragon, NRL Captain; Jo Beth Taylor, Television Presenter; Val Lehman, Actress; Brendan Fevola, AFL Star; Havana Brown, DJ; Dean Geyer, Actor; Laurina Fleure, Model; and Shane Warne, Cricket Legend.

Circumstances of the broadcast

Between 31 January 2016 and 13 March 2016, the Program was broadcast from Monday to Thursday at 7.30 pm and on Sunday nights at 6:30 pm. Each broadcast contained one episode of the Program. The Program was broadcast to New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory at the relevant scheduled time and was delayed in other states to accommodate local time zones.

Captioning of the relevant broadcasts of the Program was undertaken by the licensee’s metropolitan affiliate, Network Ten. Captioned versions of the Program were telecast on the licensee’s primary commercial television broadcasting service, Southern Cross Ten.

Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (SCA), on behalf of the licensee, submitted that all relevant episodes of the Program were broadcast and captioned live. According to SCA, the nature of the Program is a combination of live (real-time) content and edited packages filmed in the immediate 24 hours prior and which continued to be edited up to the time of broadcast.The ACMA therefore considered the Program as a part-live broadcast which utilised live captions.

Assessment

Todeterminewhetherthe licensee hasbreachedsubsection 7(1)(o)ofSchedule2totheBSA and/or subsection 130ZZA(4) of the BSA,theACMAassessed whether the licensee provided captions and whether the captions thus provided complied with therequirementsrelatingtoqualitysetoutintheCaptioning Quality Standard.

The object of the Captioning Quality Standard is to specify mandatory requirements for broadcasters and narrowcasters relating to the quality of captioning services to ensure that captioning services are meaningful to deaf and hearing impaired viewers.[3]

A ‘captioning service’ is defined in the Captioning Quality Standard as a service in which the captions enable the viewer to follow the speakers, dialogue, action, sound effects and music of a program. ‘Captions’ are defined in the Captioning Quality Standard as the visual translation of the soundtrack of a program.

When determining the quality of a captioning service for a program, the cumulative effect of the readability, accuracy and comprehensibility of the captions must be considered.[4]A copy of the factors which relate to the readability, accuracy and comprehensibility of a captioning service are contained at Attachment A.

The Captioning Quality Standard also stipulates that the quality of a captioning service for a programmust be considered in the context of the program as a whole. The circumstances of the broadcast and the nature of the program being broadcast are also relevant considerations.[5]In some circumstances, a captioning service for a program may not satisfy all the factors relating to readability, accuracy or comprehensibility, but still be determined to be meaningful to deaf and hearing impaired viewers.[6]

As part of its assessment, the ACMA reviewed each of the relevant broadcasts of the Program both with and without sound, in order to assess the quality of each captioning service. In considering the issue of delay, the ACMA assessed the extent to which the appearance or disappearance of the captions coincided with the sound effects, speakers, music and/or shot or scene changes in each episode of the Program, in accordance with the factors relating to comprehensibility outlined in subsection 9(b)(iii), 9(b)(iv) and 9(b)(ix) of the Captioning Quality Standard.

Issue 1: Did the licensee comply with the Captioning Quality Standard and subsection 130ZZA(4) of the BSA?

Finding

The ACMA found that the licensee complied with the Captioning Quality Standard and subsection 130ZZA(4) of the BSA.

Reasons

After a detailed investigation of each of the relevant broadcasts, the ACMA consideredthat the quality of the captioning servicein each episode of the Program complied with the Captioning Quality Standard. The ACMA also did not find any evidence of a delay of20 seconds or more in each episode when comparing the captioning service to the corresponding soundtrack.

The ACMA’s assessment of the quality of the captioning servicesin each episode against each of the relevant factors relating to the readability, accuracy and comprehensibility is set out below.

Readability

The ACMA found that the captions provided for each episode of the Program were readable.

Colour and font

The ACMA did not find any issues associated with the use of colour and/or font that would affect the readability of the captions in each episode of the Program.

Punctuation

The ACMA considered that the use of punctuation in each episode of the Program was readable in the context of each episode as a whole. Punctuation errors were minor and did not have a material effect on the readability or meaningfulness of the captions. For example, in Episode 1,[7] the audio ‘You know that saying, winners are grinners and losers stink of fish guts and have to take the long way back to camp.’ is captioned with a full stop instead of a question mark; however, the meaning of the captions can still be understood from the context and the dialogue.

Natural linguistic breaks

The ACMA considered that in the context of each episode as a whole, caption lines ended at natural linguistic breaks and reflectedthe natural flow and punctuation of a sentence. On occasion, caption lines were cut off prior to some commercial breaks. However, due to the format of the Program, caption lines were still understandable as relevant information would be repeated when the episode recommenced. For example, in Episode 2,[8]captioning of the audio ‘Coming up next, we’ll head into camp and find out which of our celebrities Australia has chosen to endure the next tucker trial’ cuts off at the word ‘has’ immediately prior to the commercial break; however, in the context of the episode as a whole, the captions were still understandable as relevant information was repeated when the Program resumed.

Positioning of captions

The ACMA considered that, in the context of each episode as a whole, the positioning of captions was readable, for the following reasons:

  • as a part-live broadcast which utilised live captions, it would not be possible to provide a captioning service that anticipated on-screen text in all instances or without causing other on-screen text and/or speakers’ faces and mouths to be obscured or not readable;
  • in many instances, captions were stopped or the positionwas changed immediately after it became apparent that the relevant captions may obscure on-screen text. In Episode 2,[9]for example, captions were moved to the top of the screen to prevent audience voting information from being obscured. In Episode 2[10] and Episode 5[11], captions were stopped to prevent voting information from becoming obscured; and
  • in many instances, obscured on-screen text was later included as part of captioning the audio soundtrack of the Program. For example, in Episode 1,[12] the on-screen text displaying Dean Geyer’s name is initially obscured; however, this is made apparent later when the spoken content is captioned.

Caption length

The ACMA did not find any issues associated with the length of caption lines that would affect the readability of the captionsin each episode of the Program.

Accuracy

The ACMA found the captions in each episode of the Program accurately recreated the soundtrack of the Program.

Accurate captions

The ACMA considered that, in the context of each episode as a whole, each captioning service reflected the actual meaning of the spoken content for each episode of the Program, for the following reasons:

  • as a part-live broadcast which utilised live captions, the ACMA considered that it would not have been possible to caption the audio of the Program verbatim, without affecting the meaning of the captions in other ways (e.g. by introducing an additional delay);
  • where captions were missing, the ACMA considered that the spoken content was appropriately paraphrased to minimise delay, reflect the actual meaning and preserve the relationship between the visual action and the soundtrack for the viewer; and
  • as a part-live broadcast which utilised live captions, the ACMA considered that spoken content could not always be accurately captioned due to the use of foreign language terminology. For example, the audio ‘Locally they are called Shongololo’[13] and the audio ‘Mopane worms, stink bugs, topped with Amasi, which is a traditional South African fermented milk’[14] would, in the circumstances, be difficult to caption accurately.

Manner and tone of voice of the speakers

The ACMA considered that, in each episode of the Program, the manner and tone of voice of the speakers were conveyed where it was practical and material to do so. For example, in Episode 2,[15] the captions ‘And I’m the hologram, Jjjjjulia Morris’is used to convey both the manner and tone of voice of Julia Morris.

Sound effects

The ACMA considersthat the captions provided for the sound effects that were material to the understanding of the relevant episode and not observable from the visual action,were accurately described in each episode of the Program, for the following reasons:

  • a wide variety of explanatory captions were frequently used in order to accurately describe the sound effects used in the Program. Examples include (LAUGHTER)[16], (APPLAUSE)[17], (CHEERING)[18], (SCREECHING)[19], (SNORTS)[20], (BABOON SCREAM)[21] and (SOBBING)[22]; and
  • the meaning of the sound effects could be inferred from the dialogue and visual action. For example, in Episode 1,[23] Dr Chris Brown appears to receive a text message from the unnamed 12th celebrity. While this sound effect is not captioned, the action of a text message being received can be understood in context from the dialogue, Dr Chris Brown’s facial expression and the visual action.

Music

The ACMA considered that music was appropriately captionedin the context of each episode of the Program as a whole, for the following reasons:

  • music and lyrics were captioned throughout each episode of the Program by the use of both the ‘£’ sign and explanatory captions. For example, in Episode 3,[24] the song ‘Schnitzel on my face’ is captioned by the use of the ‘£’ sign. Similarly, in Episode 4,[25] the captions ‘(PLAYFUL MUSIC)’ are used to describe the music in the scene;
  • as a part-live broadcast which utilised live captions, it would not have been possible to caption music in all instances. For example, as dialogue is overlayed by music (and vice versa) it would not always be possible to caption both the spoken content and the music without affecting the meaning of the captions in other ways (e.g. by introducing an additional delay);and
  • where music was not captioned, the ACMA considered that such music would not have had a material effect on the accuracy or meaningfulness of the captions. For example, in Episode 1,[26]the instrumental music played in the background while several of the celebrity contestants discuss their ‘pet peeves’ in the jungleis not material to understanding the spoken content.

Comprehensibility

The ACMA considered that the captions provided in each episode of the Program were comprehensible.

Identifying and distinguishing individual speakers

The ACMA considered that, in the context of each episode as a whole, individual speakers were identified and distinguished, for the following reasons:

  • as a part-live broadcast which utilised live captions, the ACMA consideredthat it would not have been possible to identify or distinguish each of the speakers in all instanceswithout affecting the quality of the captions in other ways (e.g. by introducing an additional delay). For example, the first 60 seconds of each episodeinvolved a rapid montage of shots and off-screen voices (e.g. voice overs) and off-camera voices, where it would not be possible to identify or distinguish each speaker;
  • Colour and on-screen text were used throughout each episode of the Program to identify or distinguish speakers, as well as explanatory captions. For example, in Episode 1,[27]colour is used to differentiate each celebrity as they are interviewed about their concerns about living in the jungle. In Episode 7,[28] the term ‘ANNOUNCER’ is used to refer to the spoken content of Dr Chris Brown; and
  • in many instances, the speaker could be inferred from the format of the Program, the dialogue and visual action. For example, in Episode 2,[29] the identity of the speaker can be inferred based on the luxury item brought to camp, the dialogue between the celebrities and the shots of the relevant celebrity discussing their luxury item.

The length of time the captions are displayed

The ACMA did not find any issues associated with the length of time captions were displayed in each episode of the Program.

Spelling

The ACMA considered that, in the context of each episode as a whole, the spelling of the captions in each episode of the Program was comprehensible. Spelling was also corrected in many instances immediately after an error was recognised by the use of ‘--'. For example, in Episode 1,[30] ‘jeb lits’ was corrected to ‘-- celebrities’. In Episode 5,[31] ‘twitterster’ was corrected to ‘-- twittersphere’. In Episode 6,[32] ‘Don’t miss unanden excluse sk highlights’ was corrected to ‘-- don’t miss unseen and exclusive highlights’.