The ACMA has found that Channel Seven Adelaide Pty Ltd failed to comply with the captioning rules in the broadcast of Seven News Adelaide.
The ACMA investigation found that captioning provided for the program broadcast on 20 October 2024 did not meet the readability, accuracy and comprehensibility factors in the Captioning Standard.
The investigation was based on a complaint that captioning provided for the program was of an unsatisfactory standard.
The licensee explained that overloading of a relay server caused captioning to drop out for a short period during the broadcast of the program.
The licensee also explained that the captioning failure was investigated and an additional relay server has been put in place to prevent recurrence of the issue.
The ACMA accepted the licensee’s explanation that the failure to comply with the Captioning Standard was caused by a technical issue that it could not have reasonably foreseen. Such unforeseen technical failures may be disregarded as non-compliance under the Standard.
On that basis, the ACMA will not be taking any enforcement action at this time and will continue to monitor the licensee’s compliance with the captioning rules.