Freeview’s newest feature allows viewers with accessibility needs a simpler interface to discover and find content on the service.
Freeview has rolled outs its award-winning Accessible TV Guide (it won Gold at the Connected TV Awards for ‘Advancing the User Experience’), is available at Channel 555 on selected devices. The aim is to make it simpler for those with accessibility needs, such as visual impairments and hearing loss, to find content using the service.
Related: What is Freeview Play?
The new feature has been developed with insight from viewers, advocacy groups and accessibility research agencies, including the RNIB, Scope and the Digital Accessibility Centre, and is the first dedicated accessibility solution to launch on a UK TV platform.
Viewers who tune into Channel 555 will be asked for their preferred accessibility settings, whether that’s using the Text to Speech feature for navigation, only showing programmes with audio description, only showing programmes with subtitles or only showing programmes with sign language (as shown below).
For viewers with visual impairments, the UI has been developed with high-contrast appearance (white text on black background), screen magnification and a text-to-speech functionality, and with the last feature you can determine how quickly the speech is delivered, too.
Once done, viewers can access a demo of how the guide works or start using it straight away. The actual guide will be a filtered version of the linear TV schedule, displaying content that relates to the viewer’s own accessibility criteria.
The Accessible TV Guide is available on select Freeview Play devices, and will be rolling out across the rest of Freeview Play devices in the coming months.
Simon Hunt, Director of Strategy and Business Development for Freeview Play, said: “Great content has the power to bring us all together. However, underpinning this is the ease in which we can all find what to watch and discover new shows. The new Accessible TV Guide will help millions of viewers with visual impairments, hearing loss and other accessibility needs to get so much more out of their TVs, and we are so pleased to be starting the roll out across Freeview Play.”
Gary Thomas at the Digital Accessibility Centre commented: “This is a market leading product. I know of no other TV platform with this level of accessibility options. Freeview’s Accessible TV Guide is a one stop shop, with the option to filter programmes by subtitles, audio description and sign language. It’s easy to follow, and its default text-to-speech feature is a welcome original feature to help blind and visually impaired users. As a blind user, the Accessible TV Guide will allow me to read, plan, and access programs independently which has not been possible for many years.”
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
