Freeview Accessible TV Guide
A world-first on this scale when it launched in 2020, Freeview's Accessible TV Guide enables millions of people with visual or hearing impairments to independently browse and discover TV from their standard TV channel line-up on connected Freeview Play TVs. The Accessible Guide has been enthusiastically welcomed by users with accessibility needs and the elderly, the press and advocacy groups: RNIB, Action for Hearing Loss and AgeUK. Inclusive on a broad scale, with few barriers to entry, this free Accessible Guide will open the doors for many people who would otherwise feel unable to engage with and enjoy on demand and linear services.
Description
Freeview’s Accessible TV Guide is a real-world collaboration between market-leading device manufacturers (LG, Sony, Vestel, Panasonic, Humax and many more) and key content providers (BBC, ITV, C4, C5, CBS and all Freeview channels) to make TV accessible to many more viewers. The Guide design combines the familiarity of the EPG with innovative accessibility features, across an unprecedented number of devices throughout the UK market. By navigating to the easily-memorable Channel 555 (chosen because it has a raised bump on this remote control number key for blind users), the user finds a customisable and simple to use HbbTV Electronic Programming Guide that cuts through the complexity of modern smart TV browse experiences – enabling viewers to get quickly and efficiently to the programming that they love with the Audio Described, Signed or Subtitled services they need. We also anticipate that this Accessible Guide will be a straightforward, seamless experience for our elderly viewers, who may find the range of different EPGs across the TV market unfamiliar or difficult to browse. User benefits include: A High Contrast design so the user interface design is extremely clear and uses colours that are easily distinguishable when sitting ten feet away on the sofa A constantly zoomed-in view so that the screen elements are enlarged and uncluttered A customisable set-up process that surfaces the right content to the right people, who may need Subtitles, Audio Description or Sign Language Text to Speech on many devices so that the device 'speaks' information associated with programmes, which enables blind users to discover content themselves This Accessible Guide will be robust, stable and supported with ongoing software updates to keep it at the forefront of advances in Access Services. Freeview are committed to supporting this app into the future, and it's standard-based technical specification will enable it to evolve as the HbbTV spec develops.
Impact
Freeview's Accessible TV Guide (ATVG) is available across 12.5M devices in the UK and growing every year, already making it the largest scale platform for such an accessible initiative in the United Kingdom and one of the largest worldwide. While we don't yet have full usage data for the app, we do anticipate a regular user base of 800K users or higher when this free app is supported with a targeted marketing campaign for disabled and marginalised TV viewers. Crucially, this Accessible Guide is free to use, does not need user intervention to install it, and comes on TVs & STBs at all different price points making it as easy to get, as it is to use. Having this Guide available to them will make selecting and watching TV far easier for many people at the margins of our audiences. Another important outcome of creating this Accessible Guide is fostering strong support for Ofcom's Accessibility Requirements to proliferate across the UK TV market, because we deliver the Accessible Guide at minimal effort to the device manufacturers themselves. Cost barriers are lowered because we provide this Guide free to partners; complexity of their products is reduced because we build, maintain, evolve and test the Guide; and ultimately this Guide should lead to increased value and customer loyalty.
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