Telecompaper reports that the launch follows a pilot operation conducted with the Association of TV Operations in March 2012. In the Czech Republic, 2% of all broadcasts must be audio described.
Canada’s AMI-tv, originally called the The Accessible Channel, was launched in 2009. All programming on the channel, which is sourced from different networks, has audio description and closed captioned.
Audio description is available on mainstream TV channels around the world, including in the UK, USA, Europe and India. In Australia, a 13-week trial of audio description was carried out on ABC1 between August and November 2012. The Federal Government is currently considering a report by the ABC on the technical aspects of the trial, which will inform decisions about introducing a regular audio description service here.
Audio description is also available at 90 cinemas Australia-wide and on about 35 per cent of DVDs.
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