Memorandum submitted by Royal National
Institute of the Blind (RNIB)
WHO WE
ARE
We are the leading charity working in the UK
offering practical support, advice and information for anyone
with sight loss. We are an organisation of blind and partially
sighted people, with 80% of our Trustees and Assembly Members
being blind or partially sighted. We are also a membership organisation
with over 10,000 members, 81% of whom are blind or partially sighted.
DO PEOPLE
WITH SIGHT
LOSS USE
TELEVISION SERVICES?
Every day another 100 people will start to lose
their sight. There are around two million people in the UK with
sight problems. When RNIB conducted a survey in 1991 we found
that 94% of blind and partially sighted people surveyed used television
as a key source of information, news and entertainment.
We welcome the Committee's timely announcement
of an inquiry into the many issues that are presented by the Government's
proposals to switch off analogue terrestrial television broadcasts
over the period 2008-12.
INTRODUCTION
We have a range of concerns relating to the
protection of vulnerable groups, principally the two million people
in the UK who have a sight problem, 90% of whom are over the age
of 60.
— We have arranged our comments in
accordance with the four areas of inquiry set out in the Committee's
press release announcing the inquiry.
In summary we make the following points:
— Blind and partially sighted people
can now access audio description services on both digital terrestrial
and satellite. However, the amount of audio described programmes
may not be enough to act as a "pull factor" in convincing
the two million people in the UK with sight loss to go digital.
— There is only one digital terrestrial
"Freeview" receiver that can give access to audio description.
It costs more than twice as much as a standard set top box, and
therefore financial assistance with this extra cost will be essential
for people on low incomes.
— Assistance in the form of a helpline
and also a domestic installation service will be essential in
ensuring that blind and partially sighted people are not excluded
from digital television and access services such as audio description.
— We have welcomed the Government's
announcement that there will be specific support during digital
switchover for households where one person is blind. We are calling
on the government to extend this support to partially sighted
people.
— The start of switchover in 2008 also
provides an ideal opportunity for the Secretary of State to increase
the target for audio described programmes from 10 to 20% allowing
people with sight problems in the UK to see a clear benefit from
going digital.
1. THE POLICY
OBJECTIVES AND
ECONOMIC BENEFITS
OF DIGITAL
SWITCHOVER, AND
THE RELATIVE
ROLES OF
THE DIFFERENT
PLATFORMS IN
THE DELIVERY
OF DIGITAL
TELEVISION
The role of different platforms in delivery
One of the major benefits of digital television
for blind and partially sighted people is audio description. Audio
description has been available on digital satellite (Sky) since
2000, and on Digital Terrestrial since the Netgem freeview set-top
box was released in early 2004.
Audio description is a special service to give
blind and partially sighted people access to TV, just like subtitling
is provided for deaf and hard of hearing people. The service is
an additional narration that helps blind and partially sighted
people understand and follow programmes. The audio description
fits between passages of dialogue to describe action sequences,
body language, costume and scenery etc to allow the viewer to
understand exactly what's happening on screen.
In terms of the different platforms, we are
now at a point where the very modest amounts of audio described
programmes are available on both Freeview and digital satellite.
However, we believe that the low targets for audio description
may not act as a major incentive in getting people with sight
loss to go digital. More ambitious targets are needed to make
the access services provided on digital a real pull factor, as
outlined in more detail in our response to question 4 of this
consultation.
We hope that when Ofcom comes to make recommendations
to the Secretary of State on future targets, the impact of this
decision on the attractiveness of digital to blind and partially
sighted people, their families and friends, will be one of the
considerations included within discussions.
2. THE FEASIBILITY
OF, AND
THE STEPS
NEEDED TOWARDS
ACHIEVING SWITCHOVER
TO THE
GOVERNMENT'S
TIMETABLE AND
WITH SUFFICIENT
GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE
Shortly before Parliament's summer recess, DCMS
announced a pilot scheme in partnership with the BBC in Bolton.
We have enquired through Parliamentary Questions what plans there
are to address the access concerns we set out in more detail in
our response to question 4 of this consultation and look forward
to the Secretary of State's response.
"Mr Don Foster (Bath): To ask the Secretary
of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps
to ensure that provision is made to help blind and partially-sighted
people during digital switchover with (a) installation and aerial
adjustments, (b) financing of accessible set-up boxes and (c)
free telephone advice on the options they have, including advice
on the availability of audio description; and if she will make
a statement. (15947)"
3. THE COSTS
ASSOCIATED WITH
THE DIGITAL
SWITCHOVER PROCESS
AND HOW
THESE ARE
TO BE
MET
In our response to question four we outline
our concerns in relation to the costs associated with digital
switchover for blind and partially sighted people on low incomes
who need help with the costs of digital terrestrial or satellite
hardware.
4. THE PROTECTION
OF VULNERABLE
GROUPS IN
TERMS OF
FINANCIAL AND
PRACTICAL ASSISTANCE
Below we set out six areas that we believe must
be addressed to ensure that vulnerable groups are fully protected
in terms of financial and practical assistance that they will
need to be included in the digital revolution.
4.1 Is there assistance to meet the higher
costs of receivers that blind and partially sighted people incur?
It is crucial that there is financial assistance
to meet the higher costs of receivers that blind and partially
sighted people face.
People who need a digital terrestrial receiver
that has the technical capacity to receive audio description end
up paying much more than the cheapest price for a Freeview Set-top
box, of around £40. The price of the Netgem i-player AD,
the only Freeview box that can receive audio description, is £99.
We believe it would not be fair to expect blind and partially
sighted people to pay more than twice the amount for digital TV
than their sighted counterparts, and therefore blind and partially-sighted
people on low incomes, we believe, should be provided with a free
set-top box.
Our research (RNIB, 2004) found that three out
of four older blind and partially sighted people were living in
or on the margins of poverty (living on less than half the mean
national household income). This compares to one in four of all
pensioners living in poverty (Help the Aged, 2002). Clearly then
there is a genuine case to provide significant financial support
to older blind and partially sighted people who simply do not
have the personal resources to cope with any additional costs
resulting from digital switchover.
4.2 Is there a free helpline service
that blind and partially sighted people can use?
The next key issue for blind and partially sighted
is that there needs to be a free helpline service before, throughout
and after switchover. It is essential that blind and partially
sighted people can use a free telephone helpline to obtain advice
on the digital TV services that are available to them, access
features and access services, such as audio description.
To ensure a good quality helpline service, the
helpline staff need to be trained in disability issues, on what
equipment is available for blind and partially sighted people
and on the nature and availability of audio description.
A free and qualified helpline service is not
just an essential requirement for blind and partially sighted
people, it is also an issue for people who are deaf and hard of
hearing, for example, or people with learning disabilities. If
this helpline service is to be of value to those people, it must
be ensured that staff are fully trained to understand a range
of impairments, how these impact on access to digital television
and be able to provide advice on the most appropriate options.
4.3 Is there a trusted domestic installation
service for blind and partially sighted people?
It is essential that there is a trusted domestic
installation service because blind and partially sighted people
will clearly have more difficulty than sighted people in installing
a digital box and adjusting their aerial if necessary. Anyone
who has tried installing a digital box will know that a lot of
the information on how to set up the system is given on the TV
screen, without the option of speech output for people who cannot
read text on screen. It is therefore extremely difficult or impossible
for someone with a sight problem to install a digital box without
assistance.
We therefore believe that a trusted domestic
installation service is an essential part of digital switchover.
It must be set up with staff trained to install the box and able
to advise blind and partially sighted people on how to use the
box, how to navigate and how to access audio description.
This installation service needs to be free for
blind and partially sighted people on low incomes.
When the retuning for Five took place, a similar
service was used around the country quite successfully, and we
suggest that this model could be looked at.
4.4 Is there a choice of set-top boxes
and IDTVs for blind and partially sighted people?
We believe that there needs to be a choice of
set-top boxes. At the moment there's no choice of Digital Terrestrial
Television (DTT) boxes to receive Freeview audio description,
as there is only one box available on the market, which means
there is no competition that can influence the price of the box.
It also means that blind and partially sighted people have not
got the same possibility as other users to choose a box with increased
functionality, with a more ergonomic remote control or with more
user-friendly features.
These are all important considerations for people
who may have manual dexterity difficulties that limit their ability
to operate complicated remote controls, or people with sight loss
who need a remote control that is well laid out or has good contrast
between the buttons and numbers/text.
We strongly believe that the capacity to receive
audio description must be built into all integrated digital televisions
by equipment manufacturers. This would make access services part
of the mainstream allowing people with sight loss to have a choice
of products to meet their needs and avoiding ongoing exclusion
as digital technology rolls out.
In addition, there is at the moment no solution
for cable customers, which means that blind and partially sighted
people who are cable subscribers are unable to receive audio description,
and this issue also needs to be resolved by the regulator, broadcasters
and equipment manufacturers.
4.5 Are electronic programme guides,
teletext and interactive services accessible for blind and partially
sighted people?
Electronic programme guides, Teletext and interactive
services are at the moment not accessible because they rely on
people seeing the screen and have no alternative voice output.
It means that it is almost impossible for blind and partially
sighted people to use and navigate digital television, to know
what channel they are on or to consult the electronic programme
guide to see what's on.
An affordable, accessible solution for electronic
programme guides is an essential pre-requisite before any analogue
signals in a region of the country are switched off. Otherwise
blind and partially sighted people will not be able to access
television and this clearly would be unacceptable exclusion of
a substantial number of people from public service broadcasting.
In addition, blind and partially sighted people
will have no access to on-screen interactive digital text services
and teletext. This is a regression because in the analogue environment
a technical solution for creating voice output for teletext has
been developed, but no similar solution currently exists for digital
teletext.
4.6 Is there a sufficient number of audio
described programmes to convince blind and partially sighted people
to go digital?
There needs to be strong encouragement for blind
and partially sighted people to move to Digital TV, just like
for other consumers. We would argue that in order to give blind
and partially sighted people a stronger incentive to embrace digital
television, the targets for audio description need to be increased.
At the moment those targets stand at 6% going
up to 10% of programming. We think the target should be 20% of
programming by the 10th year of digital licences to ensure that
blind and partially sighted people can clearly feel the benefit
of going digital.
In public information campaigns the benefits
of digital television are not emphasised enough. We would like
the availability of audio description to be advertised as an advantage
of switching to digital. This message needs to go out not just
to blind and partially sighted people but also to their friends
and family, as everyone who is in touch with a blind or partially
sighted person can potentially advise them on audio description
and the fact that it is only available on digital TV, although
currently on a limited number of programmes.
Lastly all information that is made available
to the wider public should be available to blind and partially
sighted people in their preferred reading format, whether that
is large print, audio, Braille, or electronic formats.
CONCLUSION
The inclusion of blind and partially sighted
people in digital switchover will require attention to the following:
— Assistance with the extra costs of
buying the only digital terrestrial "Freeview" receiver
that can give access to audio description. It costs more than
twice as much as a standard set top box, and therefore financial
assistance with this extra cost will be essential for blind and
partially sighted people on low incomes.
— Assistance in the form of a helpline
and also a domestic installation service to ensure that blind
and partially sighted people are not excluded from digital television
and access services such as audio description.
— Urgent attention to the problems
of a) the inaccessibility of Electronic Programme Guides and b)
digital teletext and digital text services.
In addition we would like to see recognition
by Ofcom and government that an increase in audio description
targets would act as a strong incentive to get the two million
people with sight loss in the UK to go digital.
September 2005
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