House of Commons - Culture, Media and Sport

Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Written Evidence

6. Memorandum from the Royal National Institute of the Blind

ACCESS TO AUDIO DESCRIPTION SERVICES (DRAFTED FOR THE BBC BUT RELEVANT TO ALL PUBLIC SECTOR BROADCASTERS)

1. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY

1.1 The RNIB is the largest organisation representing the interests of 2 million blind and partially sighted people in the UK for whom television—and BBC services in particular—are the major source of information and entertainment. The purpose of this memo is to draw the Committee's attention to a burning issue for blind and partially sighted people in relation to the BBC's public service broadcasting remit. As the BBC itself acknowledges it has a special duty to ensure that blind and partially-sighted people can access its services. However in certain key respects the BBC is failing in this duty and wasting licence-payers money into the bargain.

1.2 The annual report and accounts, which we have not yet had sight of, will doubtless show how much money is spent on producing audio-description for blind and partially sighted viewers (although this figure may be submerged in costs for media access services generally). They may also rightly extol the excellent quality of the audio-description being produced. What they are unlikely to highlight is how few people ever get to access and enjoy this audio-description. The BBC provides its digital audio description to a grand total of 45 people testing new equipment for use with digital terrestrial. Meanwhile some 480,000 people with sight problems who are crying out for the BBC's audio description and have a means of receiving it via Sky's audio-narrative service continue to be denied access.

1.3 We would urge members of the Committee to question the BBC about their reluctance to take advantage of Sky's audio-description capability. Any pressure the Committee is able to bring to bear on the BBC to rectify this situation would be hugely appreciated by blind and partially sighted viewers and would ensure visually impaired and other licence fee payers get value for money.

2. BACKGROUND: WHAT AUDIO-DESCRIPTION IS AND WHY IT IS SO VITAL

2.1 Audio description is as important to visually impaired people as subtitles are to hearing impaired people. Without an additional narrative to explain visual sequences, many programmes are impossible to follow and visually impaired people are thus excluded from entertainment and information others take for granted. While primarily for visually impaired people, audio description has many other potential beneficiaries. The outgoing regulator itself, the ITC, has argued that wider availability of audio description would enable many people with learning difficulties, older people and indeed sighted people (who like to watch the box while getting on with the ironing) to get more enjoyment from TV programmes.

2.2 The Government is committed to expanding access to audio description and thus social inclusion for visually impaired people as a key objective of broadcasting policy.

2.3 The BBC is currently required to audio-describe 4% of non-exempt programmes on their digital channels. This figure includes repeats. They began audio-describing programmes in 2000 and are set to reach an interim target of 6% next year rising to 8% in 2006 and 10% by 2008. There are no requirements to provide audio-description on analogue TV though RNIB has successfully lobbied the BBC to show some open audio-description to be shown in the "Sign Zone". Sky meanwhile has both produced audio-description for its terrestrial channels (as required by the 1996 Broadcasting Act) and has also provided a similar level of audio-description on its satellite service. Blind and visually impaired customers can currently access over 3,000 hours of Sky programmes which are Audio Described. Audio Description is available on Sky One, three of the Sky Sports channels, Sky Movies Max and Sky Movies Premier.

2.4 The average cost of audio-describing an hour of programming varies hugely but the terrestrial broadcasters claim to spend around £700 an hour on it. In 2002 the BBC and other terrestrial broadcasters claimed to have spent over £2 million on producing audio-description.

2.5 How can audio-description be transmitted and received on digital TV? At present there are two transmission systems for audio description:

— Broadcaster-mixed or pre-mixed audio description—the audio description is sent to people's set top boxes mixed in with the programme sound as an alternative option to the standard programme sound. This is the system used on digital satellite since the launch of Sky Audio Narrative service in 2001. Viewers simply select this soundtrack option at no extra charge. Sky downloaded software to all set top boxes in 2001 to enable audio-description to be received.

However, the necessary receiving equipment is not yet on the market. A group of 45 triallists in the South East of England have been testing an audio-description module which fits into the CIS on a Nokia Mediamaster box. This add-on solution, which would need Government and industry investment to roll-out (so far not forthcoming), will soon be overtaken by other developments (see para 3.6)

Both transmission systems need to used by broadcasters, as appropriate, to ensure all the available audio description is provided in an intelligible format on each platform.

3. THE CURRENT PROBLEM

3.1 According to the latest market research conducted by Taylor, Nelson, Sofres for RNIB, 24% of blind and partially sighted people (480,000 people to be precise) have access to Sky and thus a means of receiving audio description. Some people have purchased a non-subscription service which offers the public service channels only (one off cost of £120 for the receiving equipment) while others have a subscription package of one kind or another. Having invested in going digital these viewers are increasingly frustrated that the public service broadcasters—the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5—do not make their audio description available on Sky in an intelligible form as a matter of policy.

3.2 All the BBC and other public service broadcasters would need to do to ensure blind and partially sighted Sky can receive and enjoy their excellent audio description would be to buy a piece of decoding equipment costing £6,000 run the audio description they have already prepared for broadcast on terrestrial through this equipment to get it in the right format, then they uplink this to satellite. They pay NOTHING to Sky. They simply pay the satellite provider, Astra, £20,000 per annum per channel for the extra bandwidth. The BBC and other broadcasters have different regional versions of many of their channels. It would suffice if they transmitted the audio description on just one version of each channel, since the programmes they are describing are national ones. Letting viewers know what channel number to key in to access it would be a simple matter.

WHY ON EARTH DOESN'T THE BBC TRANSMIT ITS AUDIO DESCRIPTION ON DIGITAL SATELLITE ALREADY?

3.3 As we understand it the BBC has cited cost as a factor, although as we illustrate above, the cost is in fact incredibly small. However we believe the major factor is that the BBC does not like the Sky system, claims it is bad for consumers and claims it will jeopardise the market for DTT receiver-mixed audio description. RNIB emphatically disagrees on all counts.

3.4 Blind and partially sighted people have nothing but praise for the Sky audio-narrative service The In Touch programme on Radio 4 asked its listeners a few months ago for their views on audio description and how viewers wanted to receive it. These comments are typical:

"You asked if the listeners wanted AD well this one does. You also asked how we wanted to receive it. Anyway we can. When do we want it?—I wanted it the day I got my audio description set up on my Skybox. I despair of this penny pinching and mean spirited country sometimes, it is shameful."

"I subscribe to Sky and pay for it I have expensive digital TV set which gives all free channels why should I have to spend money on another box to get AD equipment when Sky has a service which works now."

3.5 Sky may not fulfil all the ideal user requirements for an audio-description service but since it is there now, and works, it is highly valued. If the BBC can be prevailed upon to simulcast their audio-description on satellite in the appropriate format, just under half a million people would benefit. An example of the additional programming they would gain access to and enjoyment of in any given week is in the table below.

3.6 The BBC, ITV et al claim that to simulcast their audio description on Sky Digital would somehow jeopardise the development of receiver-mixed audio description for digital terrestrial. This is utterly ludicrous. Receiver-mixed technology has already been agreed by the Digital Television Group as a required standard for Freeview boxes from 2006. Meanwhile there is firm progress on the manufacturing side, following RNIB's Industry Forum in May which raised awareness among set top box and silicon manufacturers of the market for audio description:

— Nebular Electronics are in the process of producing software for use with their PC card which would enable blind and partially sighted people to access receiver-mixed audio description on their laptop or PC; and

— Pace are seriously looking at adapting their new PVR set top box which has 2 built in audio decoders. A software download would enable visually impaired people to use Pace's new PVR (retail price £349) to get gold standard audio description with the potential for a cheaper version (for under £200) being developed to further boost the market.

3.7 The fact is that for the foreseeable future there will be two different transmission systems for audio description operating in the UK. We are not for one moment suggesting the BBC should use anything other than the receiver-mixed transmission system for broadcasts on digital terrestrial—it is the gold standard, it is the only one they can practically use for transmission on that platform and the equipment won't be long in coming. But to enable access to audio description for satellite viewers they should bite the bullet and use Sky's transmission system. When the first receiver-mixed enabled boxes come on the market in the near future Sky's audio narrative service will get a run for its money and blind and partially sighted people will have wider choice. Ironically, simulcasting the terrestrial broadcasters' audio description on Sky would increase demand for the more sophisticated receiver-mixed technology—people are hardly likely to ask for something more sophisticated if they have little to no experience of the service in any form.

4. LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

4.1 The BBC may be in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 for failing to enable access to its audio-description via digital satellite. Sighted satellite viewers are able to enjoy the BBC's programmes, but visually impaired viewers are denied this ability. The DDA explicitly applies to the access to and use of a means of communication. Section 21 of the DDA places a duty on service providers including broadcasters to amend policies, procedures and practices which prevent disabled people using a service and to provide auxiliary aids and services. Simulcasting its audio-description on digital satellite so that visually impaired Sky viewers can receive it would, in our view, constitute such a reasonable adjustment. An unjustified failure to comply with a section 21 duty amounts to unlawful discrimination since the failure has the effect of making it impossible for blind and partially sighted people to access the audio description and thus impossible or unreasonably difficult for them to follow the television programmes. The BBC would find that, in view of the low cost involved in making the necessary adjustment—ie simulcasting audio description on Sky—there is in fact a very strong case under the DDA. There would be no justification available to for failing to make such a reasonable adjustment. Nor would it be a defence to say that people should wait for a reception solution to become available on a different platform.

December 2003



© Parliamentary copyright 2004	Prepared 4 March 2004