MeAC – Measuring Progress of eAccessibility in Europe

Legislation/regulations

Analogue TV

Section 19(11) of the Broadcasting Act (2001) specifies 2 groups of people for special provision: (a) “persons who are deaf or hard of hearing” and (b) “persons who are blind or partially sighted.” The Act stipulates that the Broadcasting Commission (BCI) (the regulatory authority) shall make rules requiring each broadcaster to take specified steps to promote the understanding and enjoyment of programmes by the above defined groups.

Section 19(11) of the Broadcasting Act, 2001 was then amended by Section 53 of the Disability Act, 2005. This added more specificity to the Act by listing the types of accessibility measures that may be included in the requirements: sign language, teletext services, subtitling, audio description; also having regard to whether these measures are being provided daily or at other regular intervals, at popular viewing times as well as at other times, and for news and news-related matters as well as for other matters.

The rules to implement the Act of 2001 (The BCI Access Rules) were published by the BCI in March 2005. They apply to broadcasters under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Ireland or those who make use of the frequency or satellite capacity or up-link based in the Republic of Ireland. In practical terms they apply to the four indigenous terrestrial services – RTE 1, RTE 2, TG4 and TV3 (a commercial broadcaster). The BCI reserves the right to extend the rules and their applicability to new services licensed by the BCI under the Act. They are due to be reviewed by the BCI in 2008 and 2010. In December 2006 the coverage of the rules for subtitling were extended to include Setanta Sports Channel Ireland (available in Ireland & UK), NASN limited and City Channel (Dublin). In May 2007, two other broadcasters, and three channels were included – Channel 6 Limited, City Channel limited (Waterford and South East), City Channel Limited (Galway).

Detailed principles are applied in assessing whether there is an obligation and the nature of the obligation for each broadcaster/channel. These are:

• nature of the broadcaster (public/private; receipt of public monies/public service duties; etc.)
• stage of development of the broadcast provider (time in operation, experience in providing access services, expertise etc.)
• level of current provision of access services
• type of programming schedule (production of live programming, amount of programming received from other broadcasters, amount of home produced programming)
• technical and human resource costs/capabilities

Costs are also taken into account in the establishment of timeframes, to the extent that these can be calculated.

For subtitling, the targets range from 9% to 100% of programming to be covered within the ten year timeframe. Some captioning (on-screen text) may be included in these targets over the first three years but there should be a complete changeover to subtitling after this. Broadcasters must comply with the standards and guidelines set out in the BCI Subtitling Guidelines.

An initial target of 1% Irish Sign language for RTE 1 and RTE 2 (combined) was assigned, over a three year timeframe.

An initial target of 1% audio description for RTE 1 and RTE 2 (combined) was assigned, over a three year timeframe; of the total increase in audio description provision provided on an annual basis, a reasonable proportion shall comprise home-produced programming.

Broadcasters are required to indicate through the use of a standard symbol those programmes for which access provision (subtitling, sign language or audio description) is available. In so far as is possible, they should also ensure that any programme listings also indicate the programmes for which access provision is available.

In addition, it has been agreed that the national public service broadcaster would operate under a Public Service Broadcasting Charter which places an obligation to address/take into account the needs of persons with a physical, sensory or intellectual disability.

Digital TV

The Broadcasting (Amendment) Act 2007 has provided for the two regulators (BCI and ComReg) to license digital terrestrial television multiplex operators. While the Act does not specify anything in relation to accessibility of broadcasting, it allows for the regulators to set technical requirements.
The BCI’s licensing policy which applies to multiplex operators, except for the national public broadcaster, includes a section on accessibility that states:

“multiplex contractors shall be required, as part of contractual arrangements, to provide the technical capacity needed to facilitate the range of access services available. In addition, multiplex contractors shall be required to commit to not taking any steps which would otherwise limit the carriage of access services, thus future-proofing this position.”

The policy document also states that the Access Rules will remain the primary means of assigning accessibility targets.

In relation to set-top boxes, BCI’s licensing policy states that:

“DTT receivers shall, at a minimum provide subtitling. However, other assistive services (such as audio description) are not being mandated at this time due to affordability and availability considerations.”
ComReg’s license conditions, which apply to the national public service license holder, do not appear to contain any similar obligations.

Other initiatives

No other initiatives identified.

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