Early day motion tabled by primary sponsor Roger Berry (Labour), on Tuesday, 27 March 2001, in the House of Commons. It is signed by 88 members in total.

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IMPROVING ACCESS FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING PEOPLE TO CABLE AND SATELLITE TV

That this House notes that one million people rely on subtitles and that five million use them frequently; further notes with concern that current subtitling regulations exempt cable and satellite television broadcasters from statutory subtitling requirements, creating the paradox of more choice of channels but shrinking access for subtitle users; understands that this exemption allows channels, such as Sky News, to be broadcast without subtitles; further notes the very low cost of television subtitling, which is available at ??400 per hour of programming; welcomes the recent announcement of Her Majesty's Government's intention to correct this unfair anomaly by including statutory requirements for access to television services for deaf and hard-of-hearing people within the first tier of OFCOM regulation, applicable to all broadcasters; further welcomes BSkyB's recent pledge to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee that it aims to subtitle 80 per cent. of Sky News 'in about a year or so', in line with new subtitling targets for Digital Terrestrial Television; calls on Her Majesty's Government to incorporate in a Communications Bill the recommendations of its review of statutory subtitling, signing and audio-description requirements; and further calls on Her Majesty's Government to redouble its efforts to encourage all cable and satellite broadcasters to adopt good practice in advance of future legislation.

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Secondary information

Type

Early day motion

Reference

492 

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Digital broadcasting Disability aids Hearing impairment Television

Link

View this Early day motion on www.parliament.uk