What constitutes accessible progress for video on demand services?

Transcript

26 June 2015

Roberta: The accessibility of video on demand, VOD services, is a hot topic in Australia, the UK and other countries at the moment, amidst calls for legislation to be introduced unless VOD services make acceptable progress in introducing captions and audio description voluntarily. But what constitutes accessible progress? Media Access Australia's CEO, Alex Varley, discusses the UK campaign and the groups involved. Welcome, Alex.

Alex: Hi there, Roberta.

Roberta: Video on demand access for services like, say, Netflix, is a very hot topic around the world right now and I understand that a campaign has started up in the UK around this.

Alex: Yes, that's right. So as a number of your listeners, I hope, are very aware that Netflix has started up in lots of countries including Australia and has been delivering audio description basically from day one. Unfortunately, they're a bit of a lone wolf in this respect, so what's happening is in various parts of the world, including the UK, there are campaigns starting up, pushing to get more access to services. The UK one actually flows out of a conference that was held late last year in London, which I actually spoke about previously before on this program, and they're now getting very serious about specific demands and everything.

Roberta: So what are they asking for?

Alex: So the whole thing is structured around what we call catch-up TV. So, again, your listeners would be aware that the ABC is running an iView audio description service, so that's a form of catch-up TV where you can watch it after it's been broadcast, and it's also around other services like the Netflix and equivalent sort of movie and television shows. So what they're saying is on catch-up TV services they want at least 50 percent of what's shown on TV with audio description to then move across to the catch-up TV service as a starting point and with the other sorts of services, like the Netflix style ones, they want to make sure that those services are actually enabled and start delivering audio description on that service as part of it.

Roberta: Alex, why are there blind and deaf groups involved in the campaign?

Alex: Well, yes, this is slightly unusual in some ways but what they've recognised is that services like audio description and captioning, which is obviously used by deaf people, are basically the same thing. They're all about accessing either catch-up TV or films, or whatever it is, and so there's more power if they actually work together. So in the UK instance the main groups involved are the Royal National Institute of Blind People, Action on Hearing Loss, which is the old Royal National Institute for Deaf People, and an organisation called Sense, who look after the needs of deafblind people. They've worked out that collaborating together gives them a lot more power. They can share the lobbying task and, of course, it's a much, much bigger audience then.

Roberta: True. Do you think they will succeed and are there any flow-ons to Australia?

Alex: Well, I think a major difference between, say, here and the UK is that the environment for access in the UK is much more established. Something that is really important in all of that is that the UK Government has basically said to the video on demand industry that they need to sort out access with the consumer organisations and get some proper quotas in place and if they can't do that by next year then the UK Government has said they will step in and actually regulate it. So there's a lot of interest there from the supply side, from the providers, who don't necessarily like regulation to actually come to the party and sort things out. How that flows on to Australia, well, we've already had the benefits of pressure being put on Netflix and other services. So anything that pushes more services in other parts of the world will flow on here and I think something else that your listeners would be really interested in, as a starting point really for Australia, is Vision Australia, and MAA is involved in this with me, is actually going to run a webinar called Dreaming of Streaming, which is all about video on demand and accessibility and that's happening towards the end of July. So I'm sure there will be some information coming out about that. So, yeah, it's a very hot topic. Australia is certainly involved in it and we certainly will benefit from other things that are happening in the world.

Roberta: We'll be hearing more about that later, I hope. Well, for information on web accessibility and completing the PCWA yourself, you can call Media Access Australia on 02 92126242 or email info@mediaaccess.org.au. You can also visit the website, www.mediaaccess.org.au. Thank you, Alex, for all of that today.

Alex: Thank you, Roberta.

Roberta: I have been speaking with Media Access Australia's CEO, Alex Varley, who discussed the UK campaign and the groups involved and, of course, what's happening here in Australia. Media Access Australia is a supporter of this program.

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