Minister applauds Sky TV's visionary step

Minister for Disability Issues, Hon. Tariana Turia is absolutely thrilled by news that Sky Television will be introducing closed captioning on thirteen of its channels.

“I applaud Sky TV for taking this step, which will provide access for the deaf and hearing impaired communities to a world of knowledge and entertainment they have otherwise been locked out of.”

“This is a huge step towards creating a more inclusive society, where those who have disabilities, such as hearing impairment, can equally take advantage of the services available to us here in New Zealand.”

“It really pleases me that Sky TV are now able to provide this access on some of their most popular channels, and across a whole range of programmes.”

“Research has shown that television programmes can have a crucial role in supporting social interaction. So this is a very important step towards our goal of supporting those with disabilities to participate equally in society.”

“I congratulate Sky TV for their work, and am particularly pleased that in their approach to establishing this service, they established a Captioning Working Group which was inclusive of the National Foundation of the Deaf (NFD), and Deaf Aotearoa.”

“It is important that we have closed captioning services across all television networks, free or otherwise. Sky TV now joins TVNZ and TV3 in their offering of this service. I look forward to seeing this roll out across all stations in the future."