Monica and David, a documentary about the marriage of two people with Down syndrome, will be broadcast on the US cable network HBO on 14 October, with an audio described version of the soundtrack streamed worldwide simultaneously on the American Council of the Blind's ACB Radio.
Media Access Australia has published a new background paper on audio description (AD). It describes the history of AD, production techniques, the different methods for broadcasting and receiving AD on television, and the status of AD in Australia and the rest of the world.
Ofcom’s Television Access Reports detail the level of captioning (called ‘subtitling’ in the UK), audio description and signing provided by all television channels required to meet minimum accessibility targets in the UK.
In most cases, minimum accessibility targets are imposed on any channel that reaches at least 1 in 2000 Britons (or 0.05% of the market). Higher targets are imposed on more-established and larger channels to provide equity.
Canwest owns the Global Television Network, which operates 11 television stations in Canada that reach 94% of the English speaking population. The disability advocates have filed an intervention with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which will now hold public hearings into the acquisition.
