Media Accessibility: Bringing down the wall

Australia’s biggest cinema chains recently signed a deal to provide more accessible screens, and more free-to-air and pay TV content is being captioned than ever before. But is this enough to guarantee equal media access to all Australians? Georgina Pearson reports.

As the population of Australia continues to age, the need for media accessibility services is becoming increasingly apparent. According to the Australian Bureau of statistics, 1 in 6 Australians are deaf or hearing impaired (a number expected to increase to 1 in 4 by 2050), and there are currently over 300,000 Australians living with blindness or vision impairment (expected to increase to 600,000 by 2020).

This seemingly rapid forecast has sparked a huge push in the availability of media accessibility services  such as captioning – the audio track displayed as text on-screen – and audio description (AD) – a verbal description of what is happening on screen.

These services are currently available at a limited number of cinemas, but after an agreement was reached earlier this year, the country’s four biggest cinema chains (Hoyts, Greater Union, Village and Reading) have committed to providing captions and audio descriptions on at least one screen in all of their complexes by the end of 2014 (roughly one accessible cinema screen to every 149,000 people). The financing of the rollout will be fronted by the cinemas themselves with 20 percent of the total cost put up by the government.

The victory marks a milestone for the blind and deaf community, but is it enough? Alex Varley CEO of Media Access Australia says in theory, it is. “The new accessible cinema deal will put us ahead of all other nations, if things stay the same elsewhere. On paper it’s enough, but until the rollout begins (the first 10 percent of locations are due by 31 December 2010) and settles into a routine, it is difficult to say.”

According to Varley, there are still a few kinks that need to be ironed out: “Our major cinema chains’ progressive rollout is fantastic in terms of number of screens, but the questions remain regarding the operational side. Screen Australia’s captioning policy has been a major and significant development, but there are still issues with getting the captioned features onto our screens in time for general release, plus there is no support yet for audio description. Until accessibility becomes forethought in the minds of those responsible for delivering cinema technologies, the industry will be questioned by the general population as to whether it’s doing enough.”

TV CATCHES UP

The cinema agreement has been a long time coming; after nearly a decade of campaigning it is only in the last couple of years these changes have been put into action. Daniel Littlepage, business development manager for Red Bee Media says people are only just starting to see the greater need. “Attitudes are changing in Australia and people are beginning to recognise the increasing importance of accessibility to broadcast media. The public is now more aware that captions exist and can be utilised free of charge. TV networks are increasing their captioned content each year and will no doubt reach similar percentages to that of other countries.”

On Australian television, numbers seem to indicate that the provision of accessibility services is better than at cinemas, but Varley argues it will still be a long haul before Australia is on par with other developed nations.

“Australia is well behind the UK and US in both captioning and audio description on television. In both countries, captioning is basically at 100 percent across major television stations, and there are also quotas in place for audio description.

“In Australia, the only programs that have to be captioned under the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) are news and current affairs programs, and programs broadcast between 6pm and midnight. A deal brokered by the Australian Human Rights Commission between Deaf Australia, Deafness Forum and the free-to-air networks has seen captioning increase to 85 percent of programs between 6am and midnight (or 64 percent across 24 hours), so there is still a long way to go. The BSA does not cover subscription television and captioning on FOXTEL channels varies, with some doing much more than others.”

Whereas captioning is readily available, there is still no access to audio descriptions. Varley believes it is unlikely to arrive in the near future. “There is currently no audio description on Australian television, and it is doubtful whether any free-to-air network would introduce it unless compelled to by legislation.”

However, Littlepage says it could be closer that initially thought. “Audio description is on the uptake, with networks looking at ways in which they can supply AD using current technologies.”

Tony Abrahams, CEO of Ai-Media, suggests that feedback from consumers combined with lower provision costs will drive the availability of AD on our TV screens.

“Advice from consumer groups has suggested the far more pressing need is for talking menus which would allow blind and vision impaired viewers to choose from existing programming. As the cost of providing access solutions continues to fall consumers can expect more services to be delivered.”

EASIER AT HOME

There is one aspect of media accessibility services where Australia excels. Around 30 percent of all DVDs released locally have access to audio description and 65 percent to captioning. Littlepage says its provision cost that makes it more achievable: “DVDs are easier and less expensive platforms to apply AD to, with many current DVD titles having an authored AD track.”

According to Varely, it is also the result of strong campaigning overseas, because many titles utilise materials created for other markets. Local producers are beginning to create audio description tracks. “We are also lucky to have Roadshow Entertainment’s commitment to making the majority of its locally built releases accessible. Screen Australia also has a captioning policy, where producers applying for support must include a budget item for captioning of their features for theatrical release. The producers are also required to ensure the captions transfer across to the DVD release.”

THE ONLINE CHALLENGE

With the digital future progressing faster that we can keep up, live, pre-recorded and online content need to have readily available access to captioning and audio description.

There are currently two methods used for the creation of live captions – stenocaptioning, and  captioning by an operator using voice recognition software (often called voice captioning). Both are used extensively on television, with voice captioning considered to be more appropriate for news and sports programs. Both have an inevitable delay between the dialogue being spoken and the captions appearing on screen, and a certain error rate is considered inevitable.

Online content is different, in the sense that it is rapidly changing. A piece of content can be streamed, cut, changed and re-streamed from a different platform dozens of times. This can result in content starting out with captioning, but ultimately ending up inaccessible.

Abrahams says the issue lies in infrastructure: “Where content appearing on new media platforms has also been on traditional platforms, the issue is one of ensuring the infrastructure on new media platforms will support capturing of audio tracks already available. We are already seeing these modifications being made (notably on YouTube) but more could certainly be done.”

And although most online video platforms support captioning – Flash, WMV and QuickTime – the captions themselves are difficult to implement. With the boom of user-generated video sites such as YouTube, captions are not automatic and must be added by the users.

Littlepage tells Encore that whilst automatic captioning is on the cards it will be a while before it comes into fruition. “There has been a lot of talk about automatic captioning of online content recently, however accuracy levels are still too low to be considered a viable option for content owners and broadcasters.” But Varely believes many of these issues can be resolved by a change in focus. “A lot of this can be solved by attitude – that is the media companies wanting to make this happen, but most don’t think that way. These same companies spend millions marketing their products, yet ignore a ready-to consume market representing up to 15 percent of the population.”

The UK and America have both found solutions to counteract captions becoming lost in transit and again Australia trails behind.

“The Video Accessibility Act in the US looks at the issue; anything that is captioned for TV then has to be captioned when offered as an online download/VOD version. The UK has been formally canvassing options for dealing with convergence. Alas, ACMA in Australia is reluctant to explore anything unless first directed by Government. That is a heavy brake on access as there are issues that would benefit from a proper discussion of the options before decisions are made, rather than the inefficient, but more common, patching it all up afterwards,” Varely explains.

Media accessibility services are not just for people with hearing or vision impairments. Audio description is also used by people with dyslexia, and captioning is useful for people who come from a non-English speaking background. As the population of Australia grows, the percentage of non-English speaking migrants relocating to Australia is also increasing. Should captioning be focused towards this particular demographic as well?

Varely says that it is not lost on MAA and consumer groups that a secondary market is people from non-English speaking backgrounds: “The idea that an access feature can be used by many people besides its primary market has time and again been rightly sold to a number of industries, including the cinema and DVD industries, but in taking ownership of an access program, it is up to them to promote their captioned sessions to whom they see fit.”

Ultimately, the need for media accessibility services is about inclusion. For a single individual, whether they be hearing or vision impaired or just non-English speaking, the availability of these services allows them to experience cinema, TV and online content like everybody else.