Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October 2013 Policies to promote media accessibility by multiple stakeholders across EU Member States Joanna Wrona Policy Officer European Commission ITU Workshop on “Making Media Accessible to all: The options and the economics” (Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October 2013)

Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Directive 2010/13/EU) Scope: audiovisual media services broadcasts + on-demand services Rules aimed at protection of general interests The right of persons with disability and of elderly to participate and be integrated in the social and cultural life of the Union is inextricably linked to the provision of accessible audiovisual media services (recital 46 AVMSD)

Promotion of accessibility services (Article 7 AVMSD) EU Member States obliged to: encourage media service providers under their jurisdiction to ensure that their services are gradually made accessible to people with a visual or hearing disability. Means to achieve accessibility: Sign language, subtitling, audio description and easily understandable menu navigation Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October

Article 7 AVMSD - Implementation tools Application Reports every 3 years 1 st application Report May 2012 Monitoring SMART 2011/0070, Study on assessing and promoting e-accessibility, May 2013 Consultations: Green paper: Preparing for a fully converged Audiovisual World: Growth, Creation and Values; closed Sept Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October

1 st Application Report on AVMSD AVMSD- an incentive to introduce or reinforce rules on accessibility The implementation of these rules differs a lot among MSs: Some MS - detailed statutory rules Others - very general provisions, or Self-and co-regulation Some limit the accessibility obligation to PSBs Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October

Overview of measures taken by the Member States Accessibility requirements set as: Progressive targets in terms of accessible programmes Promotion of access services Voluntary approach (in particular for other services than subtitling) Commercial broadcasters: accessibility requirement set as licencing obligation or condition for DTT authorization Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October

Overview of measures taken by the Member States Accessibility requirements for on- demand-providers : regulated only in few MSs Technology offers more possibilities to assist visually, hearing and cognitive impaired persons (..) these opportunities may be lost if accessible content (..) is not produced or not made available to end users Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October

Other incentives Financial incentives for film productions (e.g. increased rate of support where accessibility versions are made) State aid measures (e.g. for subtitling of evening news or in the field of production and broadcasting for hearing impaired people) Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October

Subtitling All MSs provide for subtitling services but standards vary a lot Average volumes - 52% of overall programming a challenge: not just volumes of subtitled programmes but quality of subtitling! Examples of good practice: UK and NL (almost 100% subtitling) FR, BE, IE, SE and FI Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October

Sign language In comparison with subtitling much lower volumes of signed programmes (on average well below 5% of overall programming) some countries do not provide for sign language at all PT, BE, UK, SK : higher shares of programmes signed (10- 16%) Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October

Audio description Programmes with audio description broadcast in 13 Member States Share of overall programming quite low ( average volumes range between 4% and 11% of overall programming) Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October

Green Paper on convergence media-issues Question 26: Do you think additional standardisation efforts are needed in this field? Question 27: What incentives could be offered to encourage investment in innovative services for people with disabilities? Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October

Conclusions Very varied level of accessibility requirements across Member States Scope for improvement as regards implementation, especially with regard to commercial broadcasters Main obstacle: cost of accessibility services Main challenge : accessibility obligations for on demand services!! Geneva, Switzerland, 25 October