Television and on-demand programme services: Access services report – January to December 2021

In Autumn 2021, a number of channels suffered significant disruption to their broadcast operations, including the availability of access services. Channel 4 was the most severely affected. As a result, we brought forward publication of the data provided by Channel 4 setting out the provision of access services on Channel 4 channels and published this in January 2022.

As set out in that report, we are currently investigating a potential breach of the Code on Television Access Services in relation to the provision of subtitles on Channel 4 on the Freesat platform specifically. For clarification, in our interactive report the percentage of programming on Channel 4 with subtitles reflects the amount of programming with subtitles as reported to us by Channel 4. Channel 4 reported on broadcast platforms excluding Freesat. For Freesat specifically, Channel 4 reported that the percentage of programming provided with subtitles was 85.41%.

Other disrupted broadcasters were affected less severely than Channel 4 and all met or exceeded their quotas for providing access services across 2021 as a whole. As we set out in our report in January, we are also conducting a review into transmission arrangements and backup facilities that the broadcasters had in place at the time of the outage. We will use the findings of that review to ensure that steps are taken to avoid disruption to the availability of access services in the future. We will publish the final report in due course.

Domestic channels with an audience share of between 0.05% and 1% have the option either to:

1. broadcast 60 minutes of sign-presented programming each month; or
2. participate in Ofcom-approved alternative arrangements which contribute to the availability of sign-presented programming.

Where "BSLBT Contribution" is shown in the report, this indicates that the broadcaster contributed to the British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust (BSLBT), which commissions sign-presented programming and is broadcast on the channels Film4 and Together.

Ofcom regulates a wide range of on-demand programme services (ODPS), including public service broadcasters’ catch-up services, subscription film services and local TV archives. We ask ODPS providers to submit data on the extent to which they make their services accessible to people with sight and/or hearing impairments. The number of providers responding – and which providers respond – can vary; this should be taken into account when considering the data and comparing it with previous years.

The proportion of providers responding to this request who offered subtitles continues to rise (71.4%, up from 63.8% in 2020). The provision of audio description and signing, which appeared to dip in 2020 (possibly due to pressures on production during the coronavirus pandemic), both increased in 2021. The proportion of responding providers offering audio description was 27% (up from 16.7% in 2020) and for signing that figure was 12.7% (up from 11.4% in 2020 and in line with the 2019 figure of 12.8%).

Looking only at the services where access services were offered, 2021 continued to see modest increases in the proportion of content carrying subtitles and audio description: 66.1% of programming hours were subtitled in 2021 (up from 58.1% in 2020) and 17.2% were audio described (up from 14.2% in 2020). Those who offered signing made it available on 2% of content (down very slightly from 2.4% in 2020).

Alongside our information request, we asked providers about any barriers they had identified to the increased provision of access services. The most common barrier, particularly for smaller broadcasters, continues to be the costs associated both with developing the capacity to provide access services and with creating those access services. Related to this, providers also raised the issue of third-party content partners who do not provide access services files with their content (or charge for them). Operational issues exist around providing access services for programmes which require fast turnaround for on-demand delivery.

In previous years, providers have pointed to technological issues with providing on-demand access services, particularly relating to the increasing number of platforms, each of which requires access services in a different technical format. Some respondents did again raise these (and other) technical issues, but our sense is that this may be perceived as less of a barrier as providers incrementally develop access service capability across their platforms.

Supporting this, the figures from 2021 suggest that there is no longer such marked difference between provision of access services across different types of platform (mobile apps, set top boxes and streaming sticks, websites and so on). The proportion of ODPS providers carrying subtitles across a range of platforms now ranges from 75% on websites and 76% on connected TVs to 81% on apps and set top boxes/streaming sticks and 89% on games consoles (up from 55.6% in 2020).

More differences emerge in relation to the individual platforms mentioned by respondents to this request. The proportion of ODPS available with subtitles on specific platforms (out of the total number of ODPS on each platform who answered the request) was highest for Roku (93.3%) and YouView/BT (92.3%), with Freeview Play and Google Chromecast also supporting a high proportion of subtitled ODPS (85.7% and 86.7% respectively). Those larger platforms which appeared to host a lower proportion of subtitled ODPS included Virgin TV/Virgin Media (61.1%) and Sky on-demand (55%).

UK services carrying audio description in the calendar year 2021

The following table gives more detail on audio described content, for ease of use with screen readers. Please see the interactive report for more information on the provision of all access services.

*Boomerang/Cartoon Network/Cartoonito figures show AD provided to platforms but not necessarily played out to consumers.