<p>Investigation Report No. 2687</p><p>File no. ACMA2011/1623</p><p>Licensee Northern Rivers Television Pty Ltd</p><p>Station NRN (ELEVEN) Ballina NSW</p><p>Type of service Commercial television</p><p>Name of program Everybody Loves Raymond</p><p>Date of broadcast 24 September 2011</p><p>Relevant legislation Clause 7(1)(o) [captioning] of Schedule 2 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and Clause 38(1) [captioning] of Schedule 4, with regard to Clause 38(4) [multi-channel core broadcast condition]</p><p>Date finalised 19 December 2011</p><p>Outcome Breached clause 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA).</p><p>ACMA Investigation Report – Everybody Loves Raymond broadcast on 24 September 2011 Error: Reference source not found</p><p>The complaint On 24 September 2011, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) received a complaint alleging that the licensee failed to provide adequate captioning for an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond broadcast on the same date. </p><p>The ACMA has investigated the licensee’s compliance with clause 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the BSA in accordance with section 147 of the Act. 1</p><p>The program According to the licensee, Everybody Loves Raymond is: ... a half-hour American sitcom. It tells the daily lifestyle stories of successful sports writer Ray Barone, whose oddball family life consists of a fed up wife, overbearing parents, and an older brother with lifelong jealousy.</p><p>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, and was reviewed by the ACMA. Other sources consulted have been identified where relevant.</p><p>Issue: Did the licensee provide a captioning service for the broadcast of Everybody Loves Raymond on 24 September 2011?</p><p>Relevant provisions Clauses 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 and 38 of Schedule 4 to the BSA are set out at Attachment A.</p><p>Complainant’s submissions The complainant wrote the following to the ACMA on 24 September 2011: Channel Eleven screened Everybody Loves Raymond on Saturday evening and when I was watching the broadcast there was only one line of captioning coming through for every three or four lines of dialogue. Very strange indeed but it was impossible to watch the program under these circumstances.</p><p>Note: I am based in Ballina and it may well be a regional broadcasting issue (ie. captioning might be fine in capital cities on Eleven but something is definitely going awry on Channel Eleven at the moment). The complainant wrote the following to the ACMA on 25 September 2011: [...]</p><p>The issue can be best described as “sporadic” captioning – with one line coming up every so often! Very frustrating indeed and it rendered the programs unwatchable for people who rely on closed captions and as they don’t bother captioning their “catch up” or Internet repeats, viewers like myself miss out again.</p><p>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. </p><p>2 Licensee submissions The licensee’s response to the ACMA, dated 13 October 2011, included the following: [...]</p><p>NRN is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Cross Media Australia Pty Limited (SCMA). We are providing this response on behalf of NRN.</p><p>[...]</p><p>NRN’s compliance with the licence condition generally</p><p>NRN takes its obligation under the Licence Condition to provide captioning services for programs it broadcasts very seriously.</p><p>SCMA has measures in place to ensure that NRN provides a captioning service for all programs which have previously been broadcast, and which NRN subsequently broadcasts during prime time on its SDTV and HDTV channels multi-channels.</p><p>In addition to compliance with the Licence Condition, SCMA (jointly with the other free to air television broadcasters) conducts substantive consultations with deafness community groups in relation to captioning levels. Further, SCMA has committed to provide captioning on 85% of all programs it broadcasts on its primary channels for 2011. In practice, SCMA has exceeded this quota. SCMA’s most recent captioning quota (as reported to Free TV for the July to September 2011 quarter) illustrated that SCMA provided a captioning service on 89.3% of all programs broadcast on its primary services between 6.00am and midnight.</p><p>SCMA’s commitment to ensure that its licensees (including NRN) provide an efficient captioning service on programs they broadcast is further illustrated by the fact that NRN and other SCMA licensees have had very few captioning complaints or issues in the past 12 months.</p><p>NRN’s broadcast of the program</p><p>NRN broadcasts “Southern Cross Ten” as its core commercial television broadcasting service in the Northern New South Wales TV1 licence area. NRN also broadcasts “ONE” as its HDTV multi-channelled commercial television broadcasting service, and “ELEVEN” as its SDTV multi -channelled commercial television broadcasting service in the licence area.</p><p>A captioned version of the relevant episode of the Program was first broadcast on NRN’s primary Southern Cross Ten service. Accordingly, NRN was obliged under the Licence Condition to ensure that a captioning service was also provided for the Program during its subsequent broadcast on ELEVEN.</p><p>At the outset, NRN accepts that the captioning service provided on the relevant episode of the Program was inadequate.</p><p>The inadequate captioning service the complainant complained about seems to have occurred due to a configuration error following an upgrade of NRN’s encoders. The configuration error caused only half of the captioning data to be transmitted during the Program.</p><p>ACMA Investigation Report – Everybody Loves Raymond broadcast on 24 September 2011 Error: Reference source not found</p><p>By way of background, upgrading our encoding equipment is an integral component of SCMA’s legislative commitments to roll out digital transmitters across its television licence areas.</p><p>The configuration error ... was inadvertently applied to NRN’s Mount Nardi transmission stream. The Mount Nardi transmission stream provides captioning on NRN’s ELEVEN service in the Lismore viewing area within the Northern New South Wales TV1 licence area. As the configuration error was unique to this area, only viewers in the Lismore ... area viewing NRN’s ELEVEN service were affected.</p><p>[...]</p><p>We regret that the Program contained inadequate captions, and apologise for any inconvenience caused to caption viewers using NRN’s ELEVEN service in the Lismore area as a consequence of the error. We accept that the inadequate captioning occurred because SCMA’s staff did not immediately recognise that the configuration error had occurred.</p><p>[...]</p><p>... since becoming aware of the configuration error which caused the inadequate captions on the ELEVEN service in the Lismore viewing area , we have implemented internal monitoring procedures. These procedures are designed to ensure that technical staff will monitor and cross-check the transmission streams for captioning deficiencies when they carry out technical upgrades and maintenance in the future. The monitoring process should quickly and clearly alert technical staff when errors of this nature occur in the future so that they can remedy such errors immediately. This should prevent a similar incident occurring in the future. We have also reminded all relevant employees of SCMA’s captioning obligations under the Licence Condition.</p><p>[...]</p><p>The licensee’s response to the ACMA, dated 14 November 2011, included the following: [...]</p><p>We accept the ACMA’s findings that NRN breached clause 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 ...</p><p>[...]</p><p>... the inadequate captioning service ... was caused by a configuration error. This configuration error only affected the captioning services on NRN’s ELEVEN service in the Lismore viewing area. Viewers of NRN’s ELEVEN service in the remainder of NRN’s Northern New South Wales TV1 licence area were unaffected, as were viewers of NRN’s primary Southern Cross Ten and ONE multi-channel services in the Lismore area.</p><p>Our technical staff remedied the configuration error immediately upon becoming aware of the error. As soon as the configuration error was fixed, the captioning services to NRN’s ELEVEN service in the Lismore area were fully restored and NRN ceased to contravene the captioning Licence Condition.</p><p>Since the configuration error occurred, we have implemented strict internal monitoring procedures to ensure that a similar event does not happen again. These procedures will ensure that technical staff monitor and cross-check all transmission streams for captioning</p><p>4 deficiencies whenever they carry out any technical upgrades or maintenance in the future. This monitoring process is designed to ensure that if configuration errors occur in the future, technical staff will be immediately aware of such technical errors. This will enable technical staff to remedy such errors instantly, and to prevent such errors from disrupting captioning services again.</p><p>Additionally, we have reminded technical staff to notify our presentation department whenever they carry out technical upgrades in a particular market. This will enable our presentation staff to monitor that captions are being adequately transmitted in the relevant television market.</p><p>... we have also reminded all relevant employees of our captioning obligations under the BSA. We will continue to remind relevant employees of our captioning obligations and the monitoring procedures as part of our internal induction and training sessions.</p><p>We are confident that these measures will be adequate to ensure NRN’s and our other television licensees’ future compliance in respect of their captioning obligations under the BSA.</p><p>Finding The ACMA is of the view that the licensee in relation to the broadcast of Everybody Loves Raymond on 24 September 2011, breached clause 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the BSA.</p><p>Reasons The ACMA reviewed the program material and found that for the bulk of the program there were substantial amounts of missing captions. In these circumstances, the licensee cannot be regarded as having provided a service as required and is therefore in breach of clause 7(1)(o) of Schedule 2 to the BSA by failing to provide a captioning service under clause 38(1) of Schedule 4 of the Act.</p><p>ACMA Investigation Report – Everybody Loves Raymond broadcast on 24 September 2011 Error: Reference source not found</p><p>ATTACHMENT A Part 3—Commercial television broadcasting licences Division 1—General 7 Conditions of commercial television broadcasting licences (1)Each commercial television broadcasting licence is subject to the following conditions: [...] (o) if clause 38 of Schedule 4 (which deals with captioning of television programs for the deaf and hearing impaired) applies to the licensee—the licensee will comply with that clause. ... Division 3 -- Captioning 38 Captioning Basic rules (1) Subject to this clause, each commercial television broadcasting licensee ... must provide a captioning service for: (a) television programs transmitted during prime viewing hours; and (b) television news or current affairs programs transmitted outside prime viewing hours. (2) Subclause (1) does not require the provision by a commercial television broadcasting licensee of a captioning service for a television program covered by paragraph 6(8)(d). [...] (4) If: (a) a commercial television broadcasting licence is in force; and (aa) the licence was not allocated under section 38C; and (b) the licensee provides a core/primary commercial television broadcasting service in the licence area; and (c) the licensee provides: (i) a SDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; or (ii) a HDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; in the licence area; then, before the end of the final digital television switchover day, subclause (1) does not require the provision of a captioning service for a television program transmitted on: (d) the SDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; or (e) the HDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; unless the program has been previously transmitted on the core/primary commercial television broadcasting service</p><p>(4A) If: </p><p>6 (a) subsection 41B(2), (2C) or (2CB) applies to a commercial television broadcasting licence; and (c) the licensee provides a SDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service that is the licensee’s primary commercial television broadcasting service; and (d) the licensee provides: (i) another SDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; or (ii) a HDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; then, before the end of the final digital television switchover day, subclause (1) does not require the provision of a captioning service for a television program transmitted on: (e) the other SDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; or (f) the HDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; unless the program has been previously transmitted on the primary commercial television broadcasting service. (4B) If: (a) a commercial television broadcasting licence is allocated under section 38C; and (b) the licensee provides a primary commercial television broadcasting service in the licence area; and (c) the licensee provides in the licence area: (i) another SDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; or (ii) a HDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; then, before the end of the final digital television switchover day, subclause (1) does not require the provision of a captioning service for a television program transmitted on: (d) the other SDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; or (e) the HDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; unless the program has been previously transmitted on the primary commercial television broadcasting service. [...] </p><p>(6) Subclause (1) does not require the provision of a captioning service by the licensee of a commercial television broadcasting licence that was allocated under subsection 40(1) during: (a) the first year of operation of the licence; or (b) if the ACMA, by written notice given to the licensee, allows a longer period—that longer period. [...] (9) If: (a) a commercial television broadcasting licence is in force; and (aa) the licence was not allocated under section 38C; and</p><p>ACMA Investigation Report – Everybody Loves Raymond broadcast on 24 September 2011 Error: Reference source not found</p><p>(b) before the end of the final digital television switchover day, the licensee transmits a television program on: (i) a SDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; or (ii) a HDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; in the licence area; and (c) the program has been previously transmitted on another commercial television broadcasting service provided by the licensee in the licence area; and (d) the licensee provided a captioning service for the program when the program was so previously transmitted on the other service; the licensee must provide a captioning service for the television program transmitted as mentioned in paragraph (b).</p><p>(9A) If: (a) a commercial television broadcasting licence is allocated under section 38C; and (b) before the end of the final digital television switchover day, the licensee transmits a television program on: (i) a SDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; or (ii) a HDTV multichannelled commercial television broadcasting service; in the licence area; and (c) the program has been previously transmitted on another commercial television broadcasting service provided by the licensee in the licence area; and (d) the licensee provided a captioning service for the program when the program was so previously transmitted on the other service; the licensee must provide a captioning service for the television program transmitted as mentioned in paragraph (b). [...] Prime viewing hours (11) For the purposes of subclause (1), prime 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...... From Section 6 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992: "commercial television broadcasting licence" means a licence under Part 4 to provide: (aa) in the case of a licence allocated under section 38C—the commercial television broadcasting services that, under section 41CA, are authorised by the licence; or (a) in the case of a licence allocated under subsection 40(1)—a commercial television broadcasting service; or (b) in any other case—the commercial television broadcasting services that, under section 41B or 41C, are authorised by the licence. "commercial television broadcasting service" means a commercial broadcasting service that provides television programs.</p><p>8 ACMA Investigation Report – Everybody Loves Raymond broadcast on 24 September 2011</p>