Monitoring eAccessibility in Europe: 2011 Annual Report
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- Television content
- Television content – Public broadcasters
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TelevisionMost users benefit from several accessibility features of TV content (audio description, sign language and captioning) available for both analogue and digital TV systems. Although there are accessibility barriers common to both platforms (lack of subtitling and audio description, etc.), digital television stands out because of its interactive services. However, the existence of accessibility barriers in navigation menus, for instance, could mean that certain groups of users are unable to access basic services. This is the case with visually impaired users who, if there is no voice synthesizer incorporated, have difficulties in activating the audio description for a film. The indicators in this domain are related to TV content accessibility (availability of TV programmes with subtitling, sign language interpretation and/or audio description by the main public and commercial broadcasters and provision of Web information on the TV programmes available with access services) and to accessible digital TV equipment (DTV set-top boxes with built-in screen reader and voice recognition functionalities and accessibility features). Figure . Status of television accessibility in EU and non-EU countries
Figure . Status of television accessibility, by country Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages The level of accessibility of television in the total number of countries studied in the European Union is low-medium (33%), with seven of the 13 Member States studied (Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Sweden, The Netherlands) below 33%. The UK is the country with the highest level of accessibility (55%), followed by Spain (43%) and Italy (41%), although all of them with medium scores. The lowest level corresponds to Greece (19%). The average for the 17 countries surveyed, the 13 European Union members and four non-EU countries considered jointly, is 32% (low accessibility). In the reference countries outside the European Union, the accessibility of television is 31%, two points lower than in the EU countries evaluated, but it is worth highlighting that none of these countries have implemented anything in the category of digital television equipment. In the other categories on which the level of accessibility of television was based, the values are higher than those registered in EU countries. The non EU reference country in which television reaches a greater degree of accessibility is Australia (35%). Furthermore, regarding television related categories (television content in public and commercial broadcasters and digital TV equipment), EU countries devoted less effort to developing accessible television content (28%) than to accessible digital TV equipment (38%). Table . Status of television accessibility
Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages Television contentIndicators used for accessible TV content assessment were the following:
The provision of information about the accessibility of TV contents (subtitling, sign language and/or audio description) by TV broadcasters is needed for users to access those programmes in which they are interested. This information can be provided through their websites and/or through teletext or Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) systems. Figure . Status of television content accessibility in EU and non-EU countries Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages Figure . Status of television content accessibility, by country Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages The level of accessibility of television content in the EU is medium, the average in the countries surveyed being 28%. Highest implementation level of practices related to television content is identified in the UK, with 51% compliance with accessibility indicators evaluated, and Czech Republic (35%), which are the only countries that reach medium accessibility. All other EU countries evaluated have a low level of accessibility, with the lowest levels in Greece (13%) and Denmark (17%). Television content in the EU is less accessible than in the non EU reference countries considered in this study. The average in these countries stands at 34%, six points higher than in the EU. The non-EU reference country in which television content achieves a higher level of accessibility is Canada (42%), while the lowest level is found in United States (25%). The average for the 17 countries surveyed, the 13 European Union members and four from outside the EU considered jointly, is 30% (low accessibility). Only four countries stand out with a medium level of accessibility of television content: UK, Czech Republic, Australia and Canada. In general, comparing the two subcategories considered in assessing the accessibility of television content, the public broadcasters make a greater effort in accessibility (36%) than commercial broadcasters (21%). Table . Status of television content accessibility
Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages Television content – Public broadcastersFigure . Status of TV content accessibility (public broadcasters) in EU and non-EU countries Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages Figure . Status of TV content accessibility (public broadcasters), by country Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages The level of accessibility of television content by public broadcasters in the EU is medium, the average among the countries surveyed being 36%. Regarding the indicators on which the calculation on the level of accessibility of television content by public broadcasters was based, the following were considered: accessibility information by the main public broadcasters and TV content provided with subtitling, sign language interpretation and audio description. The only indicator used to measure the level of accessibility of TV content by public broadcasters in all the countries studied that gets a high score is “provision of accessibility information by the main public broadcasters in the country". Of the other three indicators (for which only some countries provided information), only TV content with subtitling reaches an intermediate value (52% in EU countries), while TV content with sign language interpretation and audio description barely reach 5% and 3% compliance, respectively. More specifically, at least one public broadcaster in each EU country provides accessibility information, with both main broadcasters doing so in Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, the Netherlands and UK providing very high levels of accessibility information (90%). In the UK, the Netherlands, France and Czech Republic, the main public broadcasters provide most of the programmes in the national language with subtitles, while Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Sweden, they provide subtitles for about half of their programmes in the national language. On the contrary, the main public broadcasters in Greece, Hungary and Portugal provide hardly any subtitles in their national programmes. However, the main public broadcasters in all EU countries provide limited TV content supported with sign language interpretation, an average of 5%. It is noteworthy that some of the countries have not provided information about the percentage of programmes with subtitles, sign language interpretation and/or audio description. The situation is the same for audio description of TV content. Public broadcasters in all EU countries, except Germany and UK (with low percentages of 25% and 10%, respectively), have not foreseen supplementing TV content with audio. Highest implementation level of practices in television content by public broadcasters is identified in the UK (51%) and Sweden (47%). The lowest levels of accessibility are in Greece (22%), Hungary (25%) and Spain (26%). Television content by public broadcasters in the EU is less accessible than in the non EU reference countries considered in this study. The average in these countries stands at 42%, six points higher than in the EU. The non-EU reference country in which the television content by public broadcasters achieves the highest level of accessibility is Norway (58%), while the lowest level is found in the United States (25%). Table . Status of TV content accessibility (public broadcasters) 10
Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages Television content – Commercial broadcastersFigure . Status of TV content accessibility (Commercial broadcasters) in EU and non-EU countries Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages Figure . Status of TV content accessibility (Commercial broadcasters), by country Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages Regarding the indicators on which the calculation on the level of accessibility of television content by commercial broadcasters was based, the following were considered: accessibility information by the main commercial broadcasters and TV content provided with subtitling, sign language interpretation and audio description. The only indicator of those used to measure the level of accessibility of TV content by commercial broadcasters that scores the highest among EU countries is “provision of accessibility information by the main commercial broadcasters in the country”, reaching a value of 47%. Regarding the other three indicators (for which only some countries provided information) for all the EU countries studied, only TV content with subtitling reaches a medium level (31%). TV content with sign language interpretation and audio description barely reaches 4-1% compliance. The level of accessibility of television content by commercial broadcasters in the EU is low, the average among the countries surveyed being 21%. All but the UK (51% compliance) present a low level of accessibility in this category. The lowest levels are found in Denmark and Sweden (3%), followed by Greece (4%), and Portugal and The Netherlands (both 9% compliance). Furthermore, the UK is the only country whose commercial broadcasters provide full or significant TV content with subtitling. In some countries, such as France, Germany and Italy, private TV broadcasters provide some TV content with subtitling. The situation is even worse regarding the provision of TV content with sign language interpretation in almost all EU countries, with the exception of Germany, Greece, Portugal and UK that provide some limited TV content with sign language (all below 25%). Only private broadcasters in UK supplement some of their TV programmes with audio description. Television content by commercial broadcasters in the EU is less accessible than in the non EU reference countries. The average in these countries stands at 28% (low accessibility), seven points higher than in the EU. The non EU reference country in which television content by commercial broadcasters achieves the highest level of accessibility is Canada (43%), while the lowest level is found in Norway (8%). Table . Status of TV content accessibility (Commercial broadcasters)
Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages Digital TV equipmentIndicators used for digital TV (DTV) equipment accessibility assessment were the following:
Figure . Status of digital TV equipment accessibility in EU and non-EU countries Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages Figure . Status of digital TV equipment accessibility, by country Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages The level of accessibility of digital TV equipment in the EU is medium, the average among the countries surveyed being 38%. In only two EU countries, Hungary and the Netherlands, are there DTV set top boxes with built in screen reader functionality or with the possibility to install screen reader software. There are hardly any DTV set-top boxes with built in voice recognition functionality or the possibility to install the appropriate software available in the EU. However, this is not the case only in the EU but also in other countries considered more advanced in digital TV equipment, such as in USA and Canada. On the other hand, there are a significant number of EU countries where DTV set top boxes that allow the display of subtitles are available. These are Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK. Furthermore, DTV set-top boxes that allow audio description (provided this is supported by the broadcaster) are available in some EU countries: Ireland, Italy, Spain and UK. Also in UK, the only EU country, there are DTV set-top boxes available that allow the display of sign language interpretation (as long as this provided by the broadcaster). Similarly, there are DTV set-top boxes available that allow the user to configure the font and contrast features of the interface in some EU countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Spain, UK and the Netherlands. Highest implementation level of practices related to digital TV equipment is identified in Spain and UK (both 58% compliance), with five more countries having a medium level of accessibility (values between 33% and 66%). The lowest levels of accessibility in the EU are in Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal and Sweden. The level of accessibility in the non-EU reference countries is lower than in the EU, reaching an average of 27%, 11 points lower than the EU average. All non EU countries have a low level of accessibility (below 33%). For the 17 countries surveyed, that is, the 13 European Union members and four non-EU countries considered jointly, the average is 35% (medium accessibility). No country stands out as having a high level of accessibility in digital TV equipment (values above 67%). Of the indicators for the level of accessibility of digital TV equipment, the supply of DTV set-top boxes allowing the display of subtitles (when provided by the broadcasters) in the EU countries studied is the highest with 48% compliance. In general, the level of compliance with the rest of the indicators is low, and it is worth highlighting that the supply of DTV set top boxes with built in voice recognition functionality or the possibility to install voice recognition software, as well as the availability of DTV set-top boxes that allow the display of sign language interpretation hardly applies in any of the countries studied. Table . Status of digital TV equipment accessibility
Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages
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