ESPN fails to meet subtitling and audio access targets
Sports channel ESPN failed to meet its targets to provide subtitling and audio descriptions on its programming last year, regulator Ofcom has said.
The channel had previously been found in breach of Ofcom's code for failing to provide audio descriptions in 2011 despite a target of 3% of programmes.
The shortfall was added to its quota for 2012, however ESPN failed to meet the target again.
Ofcom said it was "in discussions with ESPN about this matter".
The regulator published the findings in its report on television access services for 2012, which covers the provision of subtitling, signing and audio description by broadcasters under Ofcom's code.
ESPN's new target for providing audio description last year was 8% of programmes, however only 2.3% of its content met the requirement.
It also under-delivered on its subtitling target, broadcasting 15.7% against a quota of 22.5%.
ESPN has yet to comment on the report's findings.
Ofcom noted in its report that the two channels which missed their subtitling targets in 2011 - Livingit and Challenge - and subsequently had the shortfalls added to their 2012 targets, had managed to exceed them.
Children's channel Nickelodeon also missed its 2011 quota for both subtitling and audio description, but surpassed its new target last year.
Ofcom said it welcomed the fact the vast majority of channels continued to meet or exceed their television access service targets, with many channels subtitling more than 70% of their content.
Also, below is Ofcom's Television Access Services' Final report on 2012, from the official Ofcom Stakeholders website, stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk:
Television Access Services: Final report on 2012
Published 26|03|13
This is the final report for 2012 on the provision of television access services (subtitling, signing and audio description) by broadcasters under the Code on Television Access Services. As such, it shows the cumulative position from January to December 2012. An explanation of the obligations applying to broadcasters is given in the Code of Television Access Services and is available on the Ofcom website. http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/tv-access-services/
Ofcom welcomes the fact that the vast majority of channels continue to meet or exceed their television access service targets, many by significant margins (1). Many channels are now subtitling more than 70% of their content. A number of broadcasters have voluntarily committed to deliver 20% audio description on all or most of their channels. This includes ITV1 (in England & Wales), Channel 4, and Sky (with the exception of its sports channels) and the BBC who have committed to increase its audio description targets in 2% annual increments from 2011 onwards. Ofcom is also pleased to note that many other broadcasters have delivered significantly more audio description than they were required to do.
Two channels that missed their subtitling targets in 2011 (Livingit and Challenge) and one channel that missed both its subtitling and audio description targets (Nickelodeon) had the shortfalls added to their targets for 2012 and have managed to exceed them.
In June 2012, Ofcom found ESPN in breach of the Ofcom Code on Television Access Services for failure to provide any audio description in 2011, despite a target of 3% (2). The shortfall was added to ESPN's audio description quota for 2012. As this report shows, EPSN has again failed to meet its audio description target and also under-delivered against its subtitling target by 6.82%. We are currently in discussions with ESPN about this matter.
Channels with an audience share of between 0.05% and 1% have the option either to broadcast 30 minutes of sign-presented programming each month or to participate in Ofcom-approved alternative arrangements that contribute to the availability of sign-presented programming. Where 'Alt' is shown against a channel, this indicates that the broadcaster is contributing to the British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust (BSLBT), which commissions sign-presented programming broadcast on the Community Channel and Film 4.
We expect to publish the next report at the beginning of September 2013, providing data for the first six months of 2013.
Television Access Services: Full Year Report 2012
Level 1
Service - Nickelodeon
Subtitling - Annual quota - 71.7%5
Subtitling - Achieved (Full 2012) - 72.7%
Audio Description - Annual quota - 10%
Audio Description - Annual quota - 11.7%
Signing - Annual quota - Alt
Signing - Achieved (Full 2012) - [N/A]
Service - MTV
Subtitling - Annual quota - 70%
Subtitling - Achieved (Full 2012) - 72.2%
Audio Description - Annual quota - 10%
Audio Description - Annual quota - 11.7%
Signing - Annual quota - Alt
Signing - Achieved (Full 2012) - [N/A]
Service - Comedy Central
Subtitling - Annual quota - 70%
Subtitling - Achieved (Full 2012) - 71.4%
Audio Description - Annual quota - 10%
Audio Description - Annual quota - 16.1%
Signing - Annual quota - Alt
Signing - Achieved (Full 2012) - [N/A]
Source: Ofcom data provided by broadcasters
1 The BBC has adopted a voluntary target of 100% subtitling in respect of its programmes. As occasional glitches are inevitable, this target is very difficult to meet in practice. The BBC reported that technical and operational outages meant that some subtitling was not successfully transmitted. Nonetheless, the BBC channels missed the 100% target by no more than 0.1%.
2 http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/enforcement/broadcast-bulletins/obb207/obb207.pdf
3 Where 'Alt' is shown against a channel, this indicates that the broadcaster is contributing to the British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust (BSLBT), which commissions sign-presented programming broadcast on the Community Channel and Film 4.
4 Sky Livingit had a 9.6% shortfall in subtitling provision in 2011 and this was therefore added to their requirement under the Code to subtitling 70% in 2012
5 Nickelodeon had a 1.7% shortfall in subtitling provision in 2011 and this was therefore added to their requirement under the Code to subtitling 70% in 2012
6 ESPN had a 3% shortfall in audio description provision in 2011 and this was therefore added to their requirement under the Code to Audio Describe 5% of content in 2012.
7 Challenge had a 9.2% shortfall in subtitling provision in 2011 and this was therefore added to their requirement under the Code to subtitling 46.2% in 2012
