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Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2019-308-1

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References: 2019-9 and 2019-308

Ottawa, 20 September 2019

Public record: 1011-NOC2019-0009

English-language closed captioning mandatory quality standards relating to the accuracy rate for live television programming – Correction

  1. In Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2019-308, the Commission issued the English-language closed captioning mandatory quality standards relating to the accuracy rate for live television programming. In Appendix 2 to that regulatory policy, the Commission reproduced, for ease of reference, the Canadian NER Evaluation Guidelines that had been provided by the 2016 Working Group (i.e., a working group that included representatives from associations for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, closed captioning providers, a captioning school, and broadcasters) and that had been placed on the public record for the proceeding initiated by Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2019-9. In that appendix, the Commission noted that the version of the guidelines that had been placed on that public record was to be considered the official version.
  2. As specified in paragraph 12 of Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2019-308, the 2016 Working Group proposed the following equation for calculating the closed captioning accuracy score for English-language programs broadcast live:

    Accuracy Score = (Captioned Words – NER errors) / Captioned Words X 100

  3. However, in the section of the Canadian NER Evaluation Guidelines entitled “The NER score calculation,” the corresponding equation reads as follows:

    NER SCORE = (Words – NER Deductions) / Words

  4. To create an accuracy scale where 100 is the maximum value and the new accuracy standard of 98 is an achievable outcome, the NER score calculation equation set out in the Canadian NER Evaluation Guidelines must be multiplied by 100, as specified in the 2016 Working Group’s proposal. This part of the equation is absent from those guidelines and, consequently, from the version of those guidelines reproduced in Appendix 2 to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2019-308.
  5. In light of the above, the Commission corrects Appendix 2 to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2019-308 so that the NER score calculation equation reads as follows:

    NER SCORE = (Words – NER Deductions) / Words x 100

  6. Further, given the above-noted inconsistency, the Commission determines that the version of the Canadian NER Evaluation Guidelines that is set out in Appendix 2 to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2019-308 and that includes the above-noted correction shall be considered the official version of the guidelines, rather than the version placed on the public record for the proceeding initiated by Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2019-9 as specified in footnote 10 in that appendix. Accordingly, that footnote shall now read as follows:

    The version of the Canadian NER Evaluation Guidelines set out in the present appendix includes an amendment to the NER score calculation equation set out in the version of the guidelines that was placed on the public record for the proceeding initiated by Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2019-9 (see Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2019-308-1). That amendment addresses an inconsistency with the NER score calculation equation proposed by the 2016 Working Group in its final submission. The version of the Canadian NER Evaluation Guidelines set out in the present appendix shall therefore be considered the official version.

Secretary General

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