The easiest way to get captions on your television is through the use of a teletext television or a digital set-top box. TV captions are called “closed” captions because they only become visible with the use of teletext.

Most major television retailers sell teletext televisions and digital set-top boxes, and have a range of different brands. The Media Access Australia website has an Equipment page that outlines all you need to know about captioning equipment.

Accessing Captions on Teletext Television

Captions use lines of text at the bottom of page 8-0-1. To access closed captions:

• Choose the channel you desire.
• Press the text button on the remote control. A black strip will appear at the top of the screen. (If you are watching the Seven Network, a full menu of Austext will appear.)
• Press 8-0-1. This will reveal page 801 and captions will be superimposed over the TV picture, usually at the bottom of the screen. You may need to wait a few seconds for the teletext system to turn to page 801.
• Page 8-0-1 is available on all free-to-air TV channels.
  

Accessing Captions on a Digital Set Top Box

To access closed captions:

• Press the menu button on the remote control for your set-top box. You need to access the set-up menu, then find the option for Closed Captions or Subtitles and turn them on. Many set-top boxes have different menus, so it is a matter of finding where these options are located on your model.
  Your instruction manual should have detailed information on how to do this.

Accessing Captions on Subscription Television (Pay TV)

Not all programs on subscription TV are captioned, and unlike free-to-air there is no requirement for prime time programs to be captioned.

Due to a decision by Australian Human Rights Commission (formerly Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commision, known as HREOC), Pay TV providers must provide captioning across a minimum of forty digital channels. The initial twenty channels that began captioning in October 2004 must caption 15% of programming. Further channels must caption 5% of programming in the first year of captioning. These amounts increase by 5% each year. The number of channels recently expanded to forty-three.

It is possible to watch free-to-air and subscription television programs with captions, provided you are receiving a digital service. On your subscription television box, scroll through the set up menu to find the Closed Captions option and turn it on.

Media Access Australia is the new name for the public benevolent institution formerly known as the Australian Caption Centre. The captioning and other commercial operations of the former Australian Caption Centre was sold to Red Bee Media in 2006.

MAA no longer engages in the provision of commercial access services. MAA is a non-for profit institution and is based in Sydney. MAA works in collaboration with consumer organisations, Government and industry across the country to provide information about media access, and to develop and apply technological solutions to media access issues.