Television and on-demand programme services: Access services report Jan - Dec 2020

Television and on-demand programme services: Access services report – January to December 2020

This report sets out the extent to which broadcast television channels and on-demand programme services (“ODPS”) carried subtitles, audio description and/or signing (collectively, “access services”) in the full calendar year 2020.

The report allows consumers to compare the extent to which traditional broadcast television and catch-up or on-demand services are accessible to people with sight and/or hearing impairments.

The statutory rules for broadcast services are different to those for on-demand services. Under the Communications Act 2003, broadcast television channels are required to make a certain proportion of their programmes accessible; the Code on Television Access Services sets out these obligations.

On-demand (including catch-up) services are not currently under any statutory obligation to provide access services. However, they are encouraged to make their services progressively more accessible and Ofcom requires ODPS providers to submit twice-yearly data on accessibility for this purpose. The Digital Economy Act 2017 provides for Government to draft regulations imposing accessibility obligations on providers and Ofcom has made a series of recommendations to inform these. We are currently analysing responses to our second consultation in order to provide follow-up recommendations to Government.

We have provided this report in an interactive form so that consumers can compare the accessibility of broadcast and on-demand services across a variety of platforms. In addition to the report we have provided excel spreadsheets containing the full data set. If you have accessibility requirements which are not met by these publications, and would like to request information in a different format, you can email accessibility@ofcom.org.uk or call our Advisory Team from Monday to Friday between 09:00 and 17:00 on 020 7981 3040 or 0300 123 3333. If you are deaf or speech-impaired, you can use our textphone numbers, which are 020 7981 3043 or 0300 123 2024.

Full interactive report

For the best experience, expand to full screen (click on the button in the bottom right corner).

Data sets

Broadcast – all data (CSV, 47.9 KB)

ODPS – all data (CSV, 211.1 KB)