From:	Marika Balazs 
Sent:	Friday, 17 July 2009 1:13 AM
To:	disabdis
Subject:	Subscription Television Captioning

To
David Mason 
Director Disability Rights Policy 
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) 
    
  
Dear Mr Mason,

I am writing in response to an article in the "Media Access" newsletter, in regards to ASTRA 
applying for an exemption regarding captioning under the Disability Discrimination Act.

I was most pleased to read that 20 channels are already captioned with a further 20 to be 
enabled over the next 2 years.  I would like to suggest that perhaps educational and/or 
documentaries would take priority at being captioned before fictional programs such as 
movies or sit-coms programs.

I have been a Foxtel subscriber on the "Get Started" package since 1997.  I am very 
disappointed, and I believe I'm not the only one, that so many informative and valuable 
programs available on other Foxtel packages (such as "My World" and "My Escape") still do 
not have captions (only a few of them are captioned).

For example, in order of my preference:
"History", "Nat Geo Adventure", "National Geographic Channel", "Animal Planet", "Biography", 
"Ovation", "W" (Women), "E" (Entertainment).  I would very much like these above 
mentioned programs to be placed on a priority of programs to be captioned. 
 
I would also like to suggest that there be a mention in the program guide to advise if movies 
are indeed captioned, which are screened on Foxtel's Box Office Movie channel.  At the 
moment this is not mentioned and I often was in doubt to select the movie to be screened 
before I know if the film is captioned or not. 
  
Thanking you in advance for the opportunity to be able to voice my opinions and for taking 
the time to read this letter. 
 
 
With my regards, 
  
Marika Balazs-Kovacs