Audio Description

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The BBC, Channel 4 and ITV announced today that Audio Description is now available via digital satellite television, as well as on Freeview.

Following an announcement in June that the service was to be offered, the three parties have now successfully trialled Audio Description on digital satellite, and it is now available to all digital satellite viewers.

Audio Description, or AD, allows viewers with compatible equipment to hear a verbal description of the visual scenes on the television. It broadcasts some programmes with enhanced commentary transmitted in gaps between dialogue. It has been developed as an aid to understanding and enjoyment particularly, but not exclusively, for viewers who have visual impairments.

The BBC, ITV, Channel Four and Five are committed to audio describing at least six per cent of their output in 2005.

Programmes described include the most popular soaps like Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale and comedies like Friends and Sex and the City.

Children's programming like Blue Peter, The Hoobs and Fimbles feature this service also.

The BBC's Audio Description service will be accessible via BBC One London (Channel 944 for viewers outside the region), BBC Two England (Channel 959 for viewers outside the region), BBC Three, BBC Four, CBeebies and CBBC.

ITV''s service can be found by selecting 963, and Channel Four’s service is on 964. Five's service is already available on 105.