New Zealand to have independent captioning supplier

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Thursday, 4 April 2013 09:27am

Captioning and audio description services for New Zealand television, which are currently provided by the government-owned national broadcaster TVNZ, will be transferred to a new, independent organisation by the end of this year.

In New Zealand, captioning and audio description on the free-to-air networks is funded by NZ On Air, an independent body established by the New Zealand government. It will continue to fund access services after the transition, and staff who currently produce captions and audio description at TVNZ will move to the new organisation.

"Work is underway on setting up the new organisation and we expect a smooth transition later in the year,” said Jane Wrightson, the Chief Executive of New Zealand On Air. “We also expect to have representatives from the deaf and visually impaired community on the Board of the new entity - something that I’m sure will be welcomed."

While the transition was the result of a business decision by TVNZ, it makes sense given that TVNZ also provides captioning for other broadcasters (TV3 and FOUR).      

For more information, see the report on the Voxy website.


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