The Television Access Services: Final report on 2012 also shows that audio description levels are high. While their mandatory quotas are 10%, a number of channels, including ITV1 (in England and Wales), Channel 4, Sky (for its non-sport channels) and the BBC have committed to audio describing 20% of their programs.
Figures for the main free-to-air channels, including the BBC’s two children’s channels, CBBC and CBeebies, were as follows:
| Captioning quota (%) | Captioning achieved (%) | AD quota (%) | AD achieved (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBC1 | 100 | 99.9 | 10 | 15.5 |
| BBC2 | 100 | 99.9 | 10 | 15.3 |
| BBC3 | 100 | 100 | 10 | 21 |
| BBC 4 | 100 | 99.9 | 10 | 25.3 |
| CBBC | 100 | 100 | 10 | 23.5 |
| CBeebies | 100 | 100 | 10 | 17 |
| BBC News 24 | 100 | 100 | Exempt | Exempt |
| ITV1 | 90 | 96.9 | 10 | 18.7 |
| ITV Breakfast | 90 | 93.5 | 10 | 29.4 |
| Channel 4 | 90 | 100 | 10 | 26.1 |
| Channel 5 | 80 | 90.4 | 10 | 11.6 |
In addition, each channel exceeded the 5 per cent signing quota, with Channel 5 proving sign language for 9.6 per cent of programming.
Three channels (Livingit, Challenge and Nickleodeon) which failed to meet access targets in 2011 made up for the shortfall – and exceeded their quotas – in 2012. Only one channel, ESPN, failed to meet targets for captioning and audio description. Ofcom is now in discussion with it.
Ofcom, which is very rigorous in monitoring access targets, produces a report on them every six months. The next one is due in September 2013.
Top of page