Broadcasting Commission of Ireland looking for help from hearing and sight impaired

billy the squid

Just to let you know that the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland is looking for visually and hearing impaird people to fill out their questionaire which they say will assist them in their bid to set access rules with regard to Subtitling, Audio description and Sign Language in broadcasting

There is both a Word and HTML version of the questionaire, and their is also a braille version availible on request from the BCI

here is the links

HTML version

http://www.bciaccess.ie/introduction.html

Word Format

http://www.bciaccess.ie/access_consultation.doc

Amz

Cool, might sticky this for a while see if anyone's interested.

billy the squid

It is just typical of the BCI to ask for the public's help and then present them with something that is full of confusing paragraphs and sub paragraphs and references to obscure documents. Reading the Word document alone gave me a thumping headache.

My advice, just go to straight to section 4 of the word document, The first three sections are all about stuff that has already been done.

I will do up my own submission probably tomorrow and will post it here as well.

billy the squid

Ok having read everything, I am either in agreement with, or don't know enough to comment on, most of what the BCI are proposing. I have omitted the questions that I did not answer. here is what I sent back to them

The use of specific targets and timeframes in the draft access rules

What is your overall view of the BCI’s proposal to use specific targets and timeframes in the Access Rules for the provision of:

a. subtitling

I am of the belief that all broadcasters should be treated equally with regard to subtitling. People with a hearing impaired should have the same choice with regard to what they can watch on television. It stated earlier in this proposal that the equipment used to generate subtitling in programmes costs €17,000. This is not a lot of money compared to the profits being made by TV3 and Sky.

Sky was not included in your document, which I think is a mistake. When RTE and TV3 decided to broadcast on the Sky platform, they were required to apply for licences from the BCI. Now, with the launch of Sky News Ireland, and the targeting of Irish viewers with Irish advertisements on many of the Sky Channels, It is my belief that they should be included in these directives being proposed.

The cost of subtitling could also be reduced in some way if the likes of FAS were to set up some sort of Community Employment Scheme which would both train people in the use of subtitling equipment and keeping the cost down.

c. audio description subtitling in the Access Rules?

Audio description is different to subtitling in that the person giving the description may end up talking over, for example, a conversation in a soap opera. Each program would have to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. To order a certain percentage of programmes to have audio description would be a bit naïve. For example, RTE 2 shows a lot more sports programming than RTE 1. It would be a good idea if the individual broadcasters trained their sports commentary staff to consider sight impaired people when commentating on a sporting event.

Subtitling

What is your view on the use of captioning?

I believe that captioning is inferior to subtitling. The off screen events described in your proposal are necessary in my opinion. Lets make an example. In a scene where a person hears a phone ringing but does not decide to answer it, subtitling would state that the phone was ringing, but closed captioning would not, therefore leaving the deaf person unaware that this is happening.

We already have a subtitling system here through text page 888 and should concentrate on developing that system we have, ant the system people are used to, rather than bringing in a new one, which intentionally leaves out certain details of a programmes content, such as sounds being heard in a particular scene.

Additional considerations not mentioned in the document.

In order for subtitling to work properly, the broadcasters would have to ensure that their signal is strong enough to be received by the viewer. In parts of the country at present the use of subtitling is not possible as the signal from broadcasters is not strong enough.

A meeting between the broadcasters, the BCI and ComReg should be arranged to solve this problem.

Where the problem of poor signal quality is not possible, The possibility of issuing subsidised or free satellite equipment for viewing of Irish channels should be considered. This could be made available under the Technical Aids Grant scheme in the same way as both computers, Wireless for the blind, and other adaptive equipment has been done in the past.

billy the squid

It might be worth mentioning that the closing date for submissions is 10 November.

billy the squid

Amz you can unsticky this as the closing date has now passed

Amz

Yeah thanks Billy! It's been on my to do list all week!