Broadcasting
Legislation/regulations
Analogue TV
Law 17/2006 of the 5th of June concerning stated-owned radio and television is relevant in that it includes an obligation on the state broadcaster to respond to social groups with specific needs. It also obligates the state broadcaster to promote measures to prevent any form of discrimination because of disability.
The regulation for the legal framework of the information society allows sanctions for those who do not adapt their services in terms of accessibility. It also specifies the universal right of every Spanish citizen to have access to mass media, regardless of any disability.
The Royal Decree 1494/2007 provides that people with disabilities will have access to the content of audiovisual media in so far as technical progress allows (Article 10). This article also specifies that the means of accessibility will be subtitling, audio description and sign language interpretation, as regulated.
The Law 27/2007, of 23rd October 2007, establishes the national centre for the standardization of Spanish Sign Language as well as a national centre for subtitling and audio description.
Two standards have been set regarding broadcasting: UNE 153010 (2003) and UNE 153020 (2005). UNE 153010 (2003) concerns subtitling for deaf and hard-of-hearing people through teletext. UNE 153020 (2005) concerns audio description for vision impaired people. It contains guidelines for audio description procedures and for the preparation of audio guides.
Digital TV
Law 10/2005, the “Digital TV Act”, establishes the obligation of public administrations to adopt the necessary measures to ensure the accessibility of digital TV. The Royal Decree 1494/2007 further provides that government take the necessary measures to ensure access for people with disabilities to digital TV services according to the principles of accessibility and universal design. The Decree commits the government to making available accessible receiving equipment. The accessibility tools specified for this purpose are:
- Text-to-speech to promote navigability of setup menus, electronic programme guides and interactive services
- Voice recognition for configuration, requesting information or using interactive services
- Ergonomics in digital TV receivers
- ‘Personalisation’ to allow the person with a disability to personalise the configuration of their receiver
- Any other technical tools that will facilitate accessible reception of digital TV
Other initiatives
The Forum for Digital Television includes a specific working group on TV and disability issues.
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We are interested in receiving any corrections and/or additional information that may help us to update or improve our understanding of the current state of affairs in this country concerning the accessibility of TV broadcasting. This may concern information on relevant legislation, other policies and/or the level of accessibility actually achieved. Please enter your contribution in the “Leave a Reply” box below or send an e-mail to meac at empirica dot com.
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