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- Report for the first six months of 2012
Television Access Services: Report for the first six months of 2012
The first bi-annual report for 2012 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 2012. 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 report 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.
In the final report for 2011 (-1-), Ofcom noted that Nickelodeon had missed its subtitling and audio description targets, and Sky Livingit and Challenge had missed their subtitling targets. The corresponding shortfalls were therefore added to the channels’ 2012 quotas. It is encouraging to note that, so far, these channels are on course to meet or exceed their revised targets.
In June 2012, Ofcom found ESPN in breach of the Ofcom Code on Television Access Services for failure to provide any audio description in 2011, despite a target of 3%. (-2-) The shortfall was added to ESPN’s audio description quota for 2012. As this report shows, EPSN has started to provide audio description though is still some way short of the target, and is also under-delivering against its subtitling target. Ofcom expects ESPN to take the necessary measures to become compliant by the end of 2012.
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 broadcast on the Community Channel and Film 4.
We expect to publish the next report at the beginning of March 2013, providing the data for the full year 2012.
| Service | Subtitling | Audio Description | Signing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual quota | Achieved (Q1&2) | Annual quota | Achieved (Q1&2) | Annual quota | Achieved (Q1&2) | |||
| Level 1 | ||||||||
| BBC1 | 100% | 99.9% | 10% | 15.3% | 5% | 5.4% | ||
| BBC2 | 100% | 100.0% | 10% | 15.1% | 5% | 5.7% | ||
| BBC3 | 100% | 100.0% | 10% | 21.2% | 5% | 5.4% | ||
| BBC4 | 100% | 99.9% | 10% | 27.0% | 5% | 5.6% | ||
| BBC News | 100% | 100.0% | Exempt | 5% | 5.1% | |||
| CBBC | 100% | 100.0% | 10% | 24.2% | 5% | 5.3% | ||
| CBeebies | 100% | 100.0% | 10% | 15.5% | 5% | 5.8% | ||
| BBC HD | 37% | 89.3% | 8% | 21.3% | 2% | 2.9% | ||
| ITV 1 | 90% | 97.9% | 10% | 17.4% | 5% | 5.5% | ||
| ITV Breakfast | 90% | 94.2% | 10% | 18.2% | 5% | 5.1% | ||
| ITV 2 | 70% | 93.9% | 10% | 29.3% | 4% | 4.4% | ||
| ITV3 | 70% | 93.9% | 10% | 23.6% | 4% | 4.0% | ||
| ITV4 | 62% | 67.2% | 10% | 25.5% | Alt | |||
| CITV | 60% | 82.7% | 10% | 28.4% | 30 mins sign presented (3) | |||
| Channel 4 | 90% | 100.0% | 10% | 25.8% | 5% | 5.6% | ||
| E4 | 70% | 100.0% | 10% | 42.9% | 4% | 5.1% | ||
| More 4 | 70% | 100.0% | 10% | 26.5% | Alt | |||
| Film 4 | 60% | 100.0% | 10% | 28.4% | Alt | |||
| Channel 5 | 80% | 89.1% | 10% | 12.8% | 5% | 8.9% | ||
| 5* | 60% | 60.0% | 10% | 13.2% | Alt | |||
| 5 USA | 60% | 64.3% | 10% | 17.5% | Alt | |||
| Sky News | 70% | 71.7% | Exempt | Alt | ||||
| Sky One | 70% | 72.8% | 10% | 23.0% | Alt | |||
| Sky Two | 70% | 74.4% | 10% | 24.3% | Alt | |||
| Pick TV | 62% | 77.8% | 10% | 32.4% | Alt | |||
| Sky Sports 1 | 70% | 71.2% | 10% | 9.8% | Alt | |||
| Sky Sports 2 | 70% | 72.1% | 10% | 12.0% | Alt | |||
| Sky Sports 3 | 70% | 72.1% | 10% | 14.0% | Alt | |||
| Sky Sports 4 | 70% | 71.2% | 10% | 22.9% | Alt | |||
| Sky Sports News | 70% | 71.5% | Exempt | Alt | ||||
| Sky Movies Action | 70% | 79.5% | 10% | 37.4% | Alt | |||
| Sky Movies Comedy | 70% | 75.8% | 10% | 43.8% | Alt | |||
| Sky Movies Classics | 70% | 74.9% | 10% | 22.5% | Alt | |||
| Sky Movies Drama/Rom | 70% | 79.1% | 10% | 33.7% | Alt | |||
| Sky Movies Family | 70% | 77.0% | 10% | 43.9% | Alt | |||
| Sky Movies Modern Greats | 70% | 73.4% | 10% | 23.2% | Alt | |||
| Sky Movies SciFi/Horror | 70% | 77.9% | 10% | 29.5% | Alt | |||
| Sky Movies Premiere | 70% | 77.8% | 10% | 31.4% | Alt | |||
| Sky Movies Showcase | 60% | 82.7% | 10% | 48.1% | Alt | |||
| Sky Thriller | 60% | 79.9% | 10% | 31.9% | Alt | |||
| Sky Livingit | 79.6% (4) | 76.7% | 10% | 11.2% | Alt | |||
| Sky Living | 70% | 71.8% | 10% | 13.4% | Alt | |||
| Dave | 70% | 83.2% | 10% | 22.9% | Alt | |||
| Blighty | 70% | 77.5% | 10% | 36.4% | Alt | |||
| Good Food | 70% | 74.4% | 10% | 18.4% | Alt | |||
| Eden | 70% | 75.9% | 10% | 37.0% | Alt | |||
| Yesterday | 70% | 73.9% | 10% | 19.5% | Alt | |||
| Alibi | 70% | 94.8% | 10% | 27.7% | Alt | |||
| G.O.L.D. | 70% | 79.6% | 10% | 34.4% | Alt | |||
| Home | 70% | 79.5% | 10% | 25.2% | Alt | |||
| Watch | 35% | 55.2% | 7% | 20.4% | Alt | |||
| Disney Channel | 70% | 95.7% | 10% | 20.8% | Alt | |||
| Disney Junior | 70% | 83.4% | 10% | 31.6% | Alt | |||
| Disney Cinemagic | 60% | 97.0% | 10% | 15.2% | Alt | |||
| Disney XD | 70% | 86.7% | 10% | 23.1% | Alt | |||
| 4Music | 70% | 89.3% | Exempt | Alt | ||||
| Universal | 70% | 74.8% | 10% | 10.2% | Alt | |||
| Nickelodeon | 71.7% (5) | 76.3% | 11.6% (6) | 8.5% | Alt | |||
| ESPN | 23% | 11.4% | 8% (7) | 2.45% | Alt | |||
| Discovery Channel | 70% | 74.4% | 10% | 12.4% | Alt | |||
| MTV | 70% | 63.4% | 10% | 5.2% | Alt | |||
| Comedy Central | 70% | 62.9% | 10% | 10.9% | Alt | |||
| Level Two | ||||||||
| Challenge | 55.4% (8) | 55.9% | 10% | 14.1% | Alt | |||
| FX | 46% | 75.3% | 10% | 23.0% | Alt | |||
| S4C (9) | 53% | 79.5% | 10% | 9.1% | 5% | 4.0% | ||
| Level Three | ||||||||
| Viva | 23% | 37.9% | Exempt | Alt | ||||
| Animal Planet | 23% | 28.3% | 10% | 17.0% | Alt | |||
| Discovery Real Time | 23% | 21.9% | 10% | 10.5% | Alt | |||
| Discovery History | 21% | 20.0% | 3% | 5.0% | Alt | |||
| National Geographic | 23% | 28.8% | 10% | 32.5% | Alt | |||
Source: Ofcom – data provided by broadcasters
Footnotes:1.-http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/market-data/tv-sector-data/tv-access-services-reports/2011-cumulative
2.-http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/enforcement/broadcast-bulletins/obb207/obb207.pdf
3.- From January 2011, CiTV chose to meet its signing obligatioms by showing at least 30 minutes of sign-presented programming each month.
4.- Sky Livingit had a 9.6% shortfall in subtitling provision in 2011 and this is therefore added to their requirement under the Code to subtitling 70% in 2012.
5.- Nickelodeon had a 1.7% shortfall in subtitling provision in 2011 and this is therefore added to their requirement under the Code to subtitling 70% in 2012.
6.- Nickelodeon had a 1.6% shortfall in audio description provision in 2011 and this is therefore added to their requirement under the Code to Audio Describe 10% of content in 2012.
7.- ESPN had a 3% shortfall in audio description provision in 2011 and this is therefore added to their requirement under the Code to Audio Describe 5% of content in 2012.
8.- Challenge had a 9.2% shortfall in subtitling provision in 2011 and this is therefore added to their requirement under the Code to subtitling 46.2% in 2012
9.- In the light of information provided by S4C, its obligation to provide access services have been set at Level 2 for 2012.