Access services at the 麻豆社
The 麻豆社 is funded by and established to serve, all licence fee payers. That means producing public service content that appeals to the breadth of the UK public, and distributing programmes and services in a way which makes them accessible to the maximum number of licence fee payers.
Throughout its history, the 麻豆社 has pioneered technological innovation. From early experiments with closed subtitling and audio description to the breakthrough technology of the K-LIVE re-speaking live subtitling system, the 麻豆社’s R&D teams have lead the field in finding ways to make the 麻豆社’s content more accessible to audiences with special needs.
The 麻豆社 is regulated in its delivery of Access Services by Ofcom and we follow their . We report on our performance in the 麻豆社 Annual report, and you can see how our delivery compares with other broadcasters in Ofcom’s annual .
The 麻豆社 is currently supported in its delivery of Access Services for its public service television channels by Ericsson Broadcast and Media Services.
Subtitles
Subtitles provide a transcript of the television soundtrack, helping deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers to follow programmes.
Since 2008 the 麻豆社 has provided subtitles on 100% of its programme content broadcast on 麻豆社 One, 麻豆社 Two - including national and regional variants - 麻豆社 Four, 麻豆社 News, C麻豆社 and CBeebies and continues to provide subtitles on 100% of 麻豆社 Three online long-form programming.
麻豆社 technologists have played a key role in developing the technical standards for subtitling over many years. In 1979, a documentary about deaf children called Quietly In Switzerland became the first 麻豆社 programme to carry subtitles using the brand new Ceefax technology. Within a few years, landmark programmes such as The Living Planet were being made accessible to wider audiences using this important new service.
Blue Peter was the first live programme to carry subtitles in 1986 and subtitling of news programmes followed in 1990. The equipment used for this was specially developed for live subtitling - the first in a succession of technological advances designed to tackle the enormous difficulties of making live programmes accessible.
A diverse range of subtitled video content is available on 麻豆社 online and most of the programmes on 麻豆社 iPlayer have the option to turn subtitles on. In addition, web-only video for a number of programmes and services have subtitles included.
You can find schedules of 麻豆社 programmes by using our programmes website, digital text pages or listings magazines such as Radio Times.
Audio description
In 2000 the 麻豆社 began to provide audio description for blind and partially sighted viewers. Audio description makes television services more accessible to blind and visually impaired people by explaining what is happening on screen using the gaps in dialogue. This helps viewers with visual impairments to follow what is going on. Audio description of changes of location, actions, facial expressions, gestures and so on give the context and set the scene.
Audio Description is available on 20% of our programmes on 麻豆社 One, 麻豆社 Two, 麻豆社 Four, C麻豆社 and CBeebies and longform programmes on 麻豆社 Three.
Audio description is a free service and is available on digital TV on Freeview (with a suitable set-top box or digital TV), Sky and Freesat from Sky satellite, and Virgin Media cable. It is also available on 麻豆社 iPlayer. 麻豆社 iPlayer was the first on-demand player in the world to provide audio description services in 2009, developing wholly new technology. Audio description is available online and on many 鈥榦n demand鈥� services and is being continually rolled out across more platforms and devices.
You can find schedules of 麻豆社 programmes that include audio description by using our , digital text pages or listings magazines such as Radio Times. For details of how to get audio description, go to Help receiving 麻豆社 TV and radio or the .
Signing
In 2000 the 麻豆社 started to provide interpretation in British Sign Language for some of its programmes. The service has expanded to provide in-vision Signing on 5% of our channel output. In January 2014 the 麻豆社 extended its provision of live signing on the 麻豆社 News channel to 7 days a week including all bank holidays.
See Hear the 麻豆社鈥檚 weekly magazine programme for deaf and hard-of-hearing people was launched in 1981. One of the longest running series on the 麻豆社 it presented in BSL, with a voiceover and subtitles throughout.
You can find details of 麻豆社 programmes with signing by using our , digital text pages or listings magazines such as Radio Times.