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- First six months of 2011
Television Access Services: Report for the first six months of 2011
Published 15|09|11
The first bi-annual report for 2011 on the provision of access services (subtitling, signing and audio description) by broadcasters under the Code on Television Access Services shows the cumulative position from January to June 2011. An explanation of the obligations applying to broadcasters is given in the Code of Television Access Services and is available on the Ofcom website. http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/code-tv-access-services/
This first report for 2011 shows that most broadcasters are exceeding their obligations for subtitling, audio description and for signing of programmes. Where broadcasters are not meeting the requirements, Ofcom will expect them to take action to ensure fulfilment of their obligations over the course of this year.
A number of broadcasters have committed on a voluntary basis to increase audio description on all or most of their channels to 20%. This includes the BBC (building to 20% from 10% in 2% increments each year), ITV1 (in England & Wales), Channel 4, and Sky (with the exception of its sports channels).
Channels with an audience share of between 0.05% and 1% have the option either to broadcast 30 minutes of sign-presented programming each month or to participate in Ofcom-approved alternative arrangements that contribute to the availability of sign-presented programming. Where 'Alt' is shown against a channel, this indicates that the broadcaster is contributing to the British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust (BSLBT), which commissions sign-presented programming which is broadcast on the Community Channel and Film 4.
We expect to publish the next report at the beginning of March 2012, providing the data from the second half of the year 2011.
| Service | Subtitling | Audio Description | Signing | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual quota | Achieved (Q1 & Q2) | Annual quota | Achieved (Q1 & Q2) | Annual quota | Achieved (Q1 & Q2) | |
| BBC One | 100% | 99.86% 1 | 10% | 14.86% | 5% | 5.35% |
| BBC Two | 100% | 99.95% | 10% | 13.38% | 5% | 5.51% |
| BBC Three | 100% | 99.99% | 10% | 22.38% | 5% | 5.76% |
| BBC Four | 100% | 99.94% | 10% | 29.33% | 5% | 5.72% |
| BBC News | 100% | 99.90% |
Exempt
| 5% | 5.08% | |
| CBBC | 100% | 99.98% | 10% | 23.56% | 5% | 5.31% |
| CBeebies | 100% | 100% | 10% | 20.00% | 5% | 5.21% |
| BBC HD | 35% | 93.42% | 6.17% | 24.59% | 2% | 2.57% |
| ITV1 | 90% | 98.76% | 10% | 20.36% | 5% | 5.87% |
| GMTV1 | 90% | 97.64% | 10% | 18.48% | 5% | 5.25% |
| ITV2 | 70% | 93.22% | 10% | 31.72% | 4% | 3.92% |
| ITV3 | 70% | 87.77% | 10% | 23.86% | 4% | 3.28% |
| ITV4 | 61.6% | 64.82% | 10% | 29.51% |
Alt
|
|
| CITV | 60% | 73.16% | 10% | 43.74% | 30mins sign presented per month | 2.63 hours on average per month |
| Channel 4 | 90% | 99.93% | 10% | 26.01% | 5% | 5.72% |
| E4 | 70% | 99.98% | 10% | 32.00% | 4% | 6.97% |
| More 4 | 70% | 100% | 10% | 23.61% |
Alt
|
|
| Film 4 | 60% | 99.98% | 10% | 21.32% |
Alt
|
|
| S4C | 80% | 81.65% | 10% | 10.22% | 5% | 5.77% |
| Channel 5 | 80% | 88.74% | 10% | 15.09% | 5% | 7.64% |
| 5* | 39.1% | 43.31% | 10% | 14.61% |
Alt
|
|
| 5 USA | 39.1% | 66.10% | 10% | 21.14% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky News | 70% | 70.54% |
Exempt
|
Alt
|
||
| Sky 1 | 70% | 72.82% | 10% | 30.42% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky 2 | 70% | 72.56% | 10% | 29.21% |
Alt
|
|
| Pick TV 2 | 61.6% | 72.20% | 10% | 32.40% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Sports 1 | 70% | 73.11% | 10% | 12.36% | 4% | 4.7% |
| Sky Sports 2 | 70% | 73.16% | 10% | 11.89% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Sports 3 | 70% | 69.98% | 10% | 12.58% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Sports 43 | 70% | 70.27% | 10% | 21.91% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Sports News | 70% | 78.44% |
Exempt
|
Alt
|
||
| Sky Movies Action4 | 70% | 73.86% | 10% | 38.00% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Movies Classics | 70% | 71.83% | 10% | 22.31% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Movies Comedy | 70% | 73.17% | 10% | 38.94% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Drama Romance5 | 70% | 72.52% | 10% | 37.67% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Movies Family | 70% | 74.33% | 10% | 40.02% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Movies Modern Greats | 70% | 72.97% | 10% | 24.12% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Movies Sci-Fi/Horror | 70% | 76.35% | 10% | 40.85% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Movies Premiere | 70% | 73.85% | 10% | 37.81% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Movies Showcase6 | 35% | 79.60% | 6% | 48.83% |
Alt
|
|
| Sky Movies Thriller7 | 35% | 72.51% | 6% | 27.44% |
Alt
|
|
| Dave | 70% | 79.05% | 10% | 36.02% |
Alt
|
|
| Blighty | 70% | 76.28% | 10% | 43.55% |
Alt
|
|
| UKTV Food | 70% | 73.20% | 10% | 20.30% |
Alt
|
|
| Eden | 70% | 77.65% | 10% | 36.14% |
Alt
|
|
| Yesterday | 70% | 76.78% | 10% | 22.11% |
Alt
|
|
| Alibi | 70% | 94.51% | 10% | 21.28% |
Alt
|
|
| G.O.L.D. | 70% | 78.57% | 10% | 27.98% |
Alt
|
|
| Home | 70% | 77.07% | 10% | 26.67% |
Alt
|
|
| Watch | 35% | 47.46% | 6.5% | 21.51% |
Alt
|
|
| Disney Channel | 70% | 96.55% | 10% | 10.04% |
Alt
|
|
| Disney Junior 8 | 70% | 87.6% | 10% | 27.9% |
Alt
|
|
| Disney Cinemagic | 60% | 96.17% | 10% | 19.34% |
Alt
|
|
| Disney XD | 70% | 67.37% | 10% | 28.12% |
Alt
|
|
| 4 Music9 | 70% | 91.36% |
Exempt
| |||
| Universal10 | 70% | 66.60% | 10% | 15.93% |
Alt
|
|
| Nickelodeon | 70% | 71.3% | 10% | 8% |
Alt
|
|
| ESPN | 10% | 21.1% | 3% | 0% 11 |
Alt
|
|
| Level Two | ||||||
| Discovery Channel | 46.2% | 58.75% | 10% | 15.40% |
Alt
|
|
| Living TV | 46.2% | 42.69% | 10% | 11.35% |
Alt
|
|
| Livingit12 | 46.2% | 14.07%13 | 10% | 11.61% |
Alt
|
|
| Virgin 114 | 46.2% | Not reported | 10% | Not reported |
Alt
|
|
| Bravo 115 | 46.2% | Not reported | 10% | Not reported |
Alt
|
|
| Bravo 216 | 36.85% | Not reported | 9.66% | Not reported |
Alt
|
|
| Challenge | 46.2% | 15.46%17 | 10% | 11.81% |
Alt
|
|
| Level Three | ||||||
| MTV | 23.1% | 39.68% | 10% | 13.11% |
Alt
|
|
| MTV Hits | 23.1% | 69.97% |
Exempt
|
Alt
|
||
| FX | 23.1% | 53.92% | 10% | 19.71% |
Alt
|
|
| Comedy Central | 23.1% | 42.67% | 10% | 17.54% |
Alt
|
|
| Viva18 | 23.1% | 52.27% |
Exempt
|
Alt
|
||
Source: Ofcom data provided by broadcasters
Footnotes
1 BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four and BBC News narrowly missed their 100% subtitling target by 0.2% 0.1% and 0.1% respectively. The BBC reported that whilst subtitles were scheduled for 100% of programmes on these channels the shortfalls were due to technical and operational outages which meant that some of the subtitles produced were not delivered successfully to the audience.
2 Formerly Sky 3.
3 Formerly Sky Sports Extra.
4 Formerly Sky Action.
5 Formerly Movies Drama/Rom.
6 Formerly Sky Showcase.
7 Formerly Sky Thriller.
8 Formerly Playhouse Disney.
9 Formerly The Hits.
10 Formerly Hallmark.
11ESPN have said that a technical problem throughout the first half of the year prevented the provision of audio description on their channel. This has now been resolved and they intend to start providing audio description at a sufficient level to meet the annual quota.
12 Formerly Living TV 2.
13 Due to a technical error that Sky has now corrected, there was a failure to play-out the subtitle files on much of the content included on Sky Livingit in the first half of the year. Should this channel miss the quota for 2011 the quota set for 2012 will include this short fall.
14 As Virgin1 ceased broadcasting in February 2011 no access service figures were reported to Ofcom
15 As Bravo ceased broadcasting in January no access service figures were reported to Ofcom.
16 As Bravo 2 ceased broadcasting in January no access service figures were reported to Ofcom.
17 Due to a technical error that Sky has now corrected, there was a failure to play-out the subtitle files on much of the content included on Challenge in the first half of the year. Should this channel miss the quota for 2011 the quota set for 2012 will include this short fall. Twelve-month targets for Nick Jr. 2 run from 1 May. The annual targets shown in this table are a weighted average of those applying during 2010; the actual targets which apply across the Q2 period are shown in square brackets.
18 Formerly TMF.