Commenting on proposed revision of access rules for TV
Monday, 23 January 2012
NCBI is making a submission on the proposed revisions to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) Access Rules, which set targets for the amount of subtitling, audio description and Irish Sign Language (ISL) for each Irish TV channel. The TV Access coalition is also making a submission, on behalf of all its member organizations, of which NCBI is one. CFIT's Mark Magennis is Chair of TV Access.
Astonishingly, the BAI is proposing to actually reduce the requirements for subtitling, rather than increase them which is the norm in just about every other country. Reductions of between 15% and 47% depending on the channel are proposed. The targets for audio description and ISL are hardly being increased at all, staying at a mere 1% in 2012 and rising to only 2% by 2016 (and applying only to RTE 1&2).
These access services are becoming cheaper as an international market opens up and technological improvements make them easier to create and transmit. A greater emphasis on digital inclusion and universal access to television is being encouraged by the UN and the EU. The rapidly ageing population means that more and more people are in need of access services. It is therefore shocking that the BAI is giving them such low importance.
We are hoping our submission will persuade the BAI to modify its course.