Following a long-running campaign by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), the UK government has announced its support for a 20% target for audio description (AD) on television.
The announcement follows a review into access services conducted by the UK communications regulator Ofcom in 2009. Ofcom canvassed three options for the future of AD: leaving the target at its current 10%, increasing it to 20% over all channels, or increasing it to 20% on the 10 public service broadcasting channels.
Ofcom declined to make a recommendation and passed the matter on to the Secretary of State.
On 15 July, the Minister for Broadcasting, Ed Vaizey, announced his strong support for the 20% figure, but said that it had been decided not to increase the statutory figure from 10%. He noted that this decision had been made in the context of his government's commitment to deregulation, while also welcoming the fact that Sky, BBC, ITV and more recently Channel 4 have all voluntarily committed to a target of 20%, making it the 'de facto' target for television in the UK.
He had nevertheless asked Ofcom to continue monitoring AD levels, and if the 20% figure was not reached, would re-visit the idea of raising the statutory target.
For more information, see the RNIB website
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