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Visit our other site www.mediaaccess.org.au for all the latest news, information and help on captioning issues in Australia. 

Television and audio description

Here you will find news and information about audio description and television both within Australia and internationally.

Television and audio description

Audio description services on television are now well established in North America and Europe, but not in Australia. 

Television AD services are usually provided in a “closed” format.  That is where the viewer selects the audio description service via a menu button.  One of the requirements for this is that the channel is able to provide multiple audio channels (as the audio description service sits on a different audio channel to the main soundtrack).  Whilst multiple audio channels are common in Europe (especially dealing with multiple languages) and North America (including the use of a special audio channel for Spanish in the USA or French in Canada), the current Australian television standards do not support a secondary audio channel.

One solution to this is to offer an “open” audio description service where all of the viewers hear the audio description soundtrack.  This approach has been used to provide an alternative channel in Canada (which also has access to closed audio description services, including the American channels).  See Canada section below for more details.

There are no legal requirements to provide audio description on Australian television, although this issue has been taken up by the Federal Government’s media access review.  Furthermore, the main blind organisations in Australia have called for an open audio description trial on the digital-only ABC2 channel as a precursor to a proper service being introduced on digital television timed around upgrading of the audio standards.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has the most developed and regulated market for audio description, as audio description appears on both free to air and subscription television. Additionally, all television stations are required to meet formal quotas for the provision of audio description.

The audio description quotas follow the same general system as captioning, with three tiers of requirements based on size of channel.  There are some exemptions for live programming as well (on the grounds that it is impractical to live describe programs).  This affects news and live sport in the main.  In 2008 the highest level channels reached the full 10% quota requirement for audio description, although a number of them exceeded this.

The Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB) in the UK is running a campaign for the quota to be increased to 20%.  This is being reviewed by the UK regulator Ofcom and a report is expected later in the year.  This campaign has been supported by many members of parliament and was boosted by a voluntary increase in the amount of AD to 20% by Sky Television from March 2009.  The British Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has called on other channels to match this before any legislation is introduced. 

Examples of programs that are regularly audio-described include:

  • BBC One: Neighbours, Eastenders, Holby City, Dalziel and Pascoe.
  • BBC Two: Documentaries
  • ITV 1: Emmerdale, Coronation Street,The Bill
  • Channel 4: The Hoobs
  • Five: Home and Away

There are several excerpts from audio described British television programs on RNIB's website.   

Regulation and Standards in the United Kingdom

The audio description quotas are regulated by Office of Communications (Ofcom) which monitors compliance with the regulated quotas. The Office of Communications also act as a policy and review body. The Office of Communications completed a review of access services on television, including audio description, in March this year.

Whilst there are no regulated presentation standards for audio description in the United Kingdom, there are some guidelines for television access services which were prepared by the predecessor to the Office of Communications, the Independent Television Commission (ITC). These are generally followed by audio describers in the United Kingdom.

With the digital television switchover scheduled for 17 October 2007, a primary concern is how disadvantaged people will cope with the swi tchover. United Kingdom regulator the Office of Communications and Digital UK have commissioned research into this issue, and recently released a report of the findings.

United States

In the United States, audio description on free to air television is broadcast on a second audio channel (called the Second Audio Program or SAP). Most televisions and VCRs manufactured in the United States since 1990 can access the Second Audio Program.

In July 2000, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered the four major television networks and the five biggest cable networks to show fifty hours of audio described programs per quarter by April 2002. The Federal Communications Commission's power to do this was challenged by the Motion Picture Association, and the challenge was eventually upheld.

Currently there are bills in motion in the Senate and Congress to uphold the Federal Communications Commission’s right to impose audio description quotas. The Audio Description International website lists the following as regularly audio described:

  • ABC: Some movies
  • CBS: CSI, NCIS, JAG (reruns), Blues Clues, Dora the Explorer, Rugrats, some movies
  • NBC: Endurance, Scout's Safari, Kenny the Shark, Tutenstein, Trading Places, Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, Saturday Movie of the Week, some mid week movies
  • FOX: The Bernie Mac Show, Malcolm in the Middle, The Simpsons, That 70s Show, Magic School Bus, some movies
  • PBS: Various programs that are constantly updated, see the Audio Description International website for more information.
  • Lifetime (LIF): About one movie a day is described.
  • Nickelodeon (NIK): Blues Clues, Dora the Explorer, Jimmy Neutron, and Rugrats.
  • TBS: No information available at this time.
  • Turner Classic Movies (TCM): Many classic movies.
  • TNT: Law and Order reruns, some movies.
  • USA: Some movies.

Canada

Since 2001, the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) have made it compulsory for an audio description commitment to be made before it renews broadcasting licenses. Canadians also have access to United States audio described programs; however some networks do not yet have the capability to send an Second Audio Program signal outside metropolitan areas.

The Accessible Channel

On 3 December 2008, the National Broadcast Reading Service (NBRS), a Canadian charitable organisation which provides media in accessible form for the country’s print- and vision-handicapped, launched The Accessible Channel. This digital-only service has the distinction of being the first fully audio-described TV channel in the world.

The Accessible Channel shows a range of programs, including movies, drama, news and current events and children’s programs, sourced from the various TV networks. The audio description is broadcast in ‘open’ format, which means that anyone switching on the channel will hear it. In addition to this, 90% of the channel’s programs are captioned for the deaf and hearing impaired.

For more information: the Accessible Channel website.

For the latest news in audio description and television:

Television News