28 August 2012
The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, has announced a review of the 2003 Communications Act. The act amongst other things, was responsible for mandating Audio Description on at least 10 per cent of programmes across all digital television channels.
To this effect, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is hosting a series of 'policy seminars' which will feed into a white paper early next year, and will ultimately lead to the new legislation.
RNIB will be submitting a response to one of the DCMS seminar papers and is requesting user feedback on the provision of audio description and availability of accessible digital radio and television equipment in the UK market.
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Tell us if you think your complaints related to AD on television are being dealt with satisfactorily.
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Tell us if you would like to see more television devices with text to speech as Panasonic TV with Voice Guidance and TV onics set top box in the UK market.
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Tell us if you would like to see digital radios with text to speech in the UK market.
If you would like your comments to be included in the RNIB response, please send your comments to broadcasting@rnib.org.uk by Friday 31 August 2012.
This information will help inform the RNIB response on these issues and subsequently have an impact on the review of the Communications Act.
We encourage everyone to participate!