10 January 2013
In a recent development, Ofcom published a list of non-UK television channels that will be required to provide access services such as subtitling, signing and audio description in Member States of the European Union other than the UK.
These channels that are licensed by Ofcom will have to start providing audio description as of 1 January 2014:
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Denmark: The Discovery Channel; The Disney Channel; Kanal 43; Kanal 5; TV34; TV3 Plus.
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France: The Discovery Channel; Disney Cinemagic; Cartoon Network5.
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Hungary: The Discovery Channel.
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Republic of Ireland: BBC 1; BBC 2; Sky Living; Sky One; Channel 4; UTV.
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Italy: AXN6; AXN Sci-fi; The Discovery Channel.
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Netherlands: Animal Planet7; The Discovery Channel;
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Poland: Animal Planet; AXN Crime; AXN Polska; AXN Sci-fi; Cartoon Network; The Discovery Channel; Discovery Science; Discovery World; TLC8
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Romania: Animal Planet
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Spain: Disney Cinemagic; Cartoon Network
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Sweden: The Discovery Channel; The Disney Channel; Kanal 5; Kanal 9; TV3; TV6; TV8
This is an outcome of the involvement of members of the European Blind Union in influencing the Audio Visual Media Directive.
The provisions in the Directive have led the UK regulator for broadcasting, Ofcom, to look again at the rules that govern audio description, and to make sure they now apply to those TV broadcasters who are licensed in the UK but broadcasting abroad. Interestingly, a number of broadcasters have a broadcast licence in the UK even though they do not provide programmes to the UK.
The new requirements will benefit viewers with sensory impairments in the European Union.
The move by Ofcom is explained further in the statement published by Ofcom in October 2012 on "Access services on non-domestic channels".
The criteria Ofcom that has used for selecting which non-domestic channels should provide access services are similar to those applying to domestic UK channels. Under the affordability test, channels that cannot afford to meet the assessed cost of providing access services by spending no more than 1% of their relevant turnover will be exempted from doing so. Under the audience share threshold test, the channels that do not attract a sufficiently large audience do not have to provide access services. Both rules are very reasonable and similar to what applies in the UK.
Ofcom has updated its code on TV access services to reflect those changes.