Dancing With the Stars Australia and Channel Seven have been found in breach of broadcasting standards.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found that the network has failed to keep appropriate audio-visual records. The breach was discovered following an episode of DWTS that aired in April 2021.

dancing with the stars all stars
Channel Seven’s Dancing With the Stars was found in breach of broadcasting standards. Source: Seven.

Issues arose while ACMA was investigating a claim that the episode provided poor captioning during its broadcast.

According to TV Tonight, the media watchdog hasn’t been able to draw conclusions over the complaint. This is due to Channel Seven’s “failure in record-keeping”.

The Broadcasting Services Act requires a network or licensee to keep a copy of any program aired for 30 days. When a complaint is made, the licensee must maintain a record for 90 days.

The hit celebrity dance competition came under fire after a viewer complained of visual impairments during the episode.

“Questions about captioning, why has it moved from the bottom to the top of the screen in front of peoples’ faces[?]” they queried. “Also, captioning is getting smaller, which is hard if you have vision problems as well.”

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Seven Has Responded to Complaints Over the Dancing With the Stars Episode

The Broadcasting Services Act states that captions used in TV programs must be “accurate, comprehensible and readable”.

TV Tonight revealed that the Seven Network has since acknowledged, and confirmed, the faux pas.

dancing with the stars broadcasting breach
Seven has confirmed that the episode in question in question provided poor captioning. Source: Seven.

According to the network, the captions were positioned at the top of the screen to allow each contestant’s name to appear at the bottom of the screen.

This was the result of a decision made by the captioner.

Despite the confirmation, ACMA’s investigation was inconclusive because the off-air recording of the episode was saved on a “corrupted” hard drive.

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