SBS On Demand expands audio description offering in digital catalogue

December 3 2024, 10:45 am | BY Ricki Green | No Comments
SBS On Demand expands audio description offering in digital catalogue

Today on International Day of People with Disability (December 3) public broadcaster SBS has announced it will significantly lift the amount of audio description content available on SBS On Demand. This expanded offering will be available with end-to-end accessibility via the web, and will roll out across other platforms such as app, CTV, Apple and Android over the course of 2025.

 

With the growing roll out of audio description across more than 500 titles in the SBS On Demand catalogue and improved accessibility such as blind and low vision login via its website.

Shows such as Dateline, Barrumbi Kids, Going Places with Ernie Dingo, Four Years Later and many more across SBS On Demand’s suite of news and current affairs, children’s, documentary and drama programming will feature enhanced audio description services, with auditory narrations of visual elements and the website optimised for assistive technologies.

“We have been leaders in the audio description space for years, including being the first free-to-air broadcaster to provide audio description on linear television,” said Clare O’Neil, Director of Corporate Affairs. “Today’s move not only sees us expanding our deep library of audio description content on SBS On Demand, but also launching an improved end-to-end accessibility experience via the SBS On Demand website to better serve our blind and low vision audiences.”

SBS is proud to be an industry leader in providing accessible media services to Australian audiences, with more than 29,000 hours of subtitles, closed captioning, audio description and Auslan content made available on SBS, NITV and SBS On Demand in financial year 2023–24.

Every week we produce up to 27 hours of new audio described programming – regularly working with blind and low vision partners for script review and casting culturally appropriate voices, including Indigenous voices. SBS On Demand’s dedicated AD collection features more than 500 TV shows and movies available here.

The expanded service will be available on web viewing with access on other platforms, such as app, CTV, Apple and Android, to roll out over the course of 2025. Detailed instructions on how to access the service are provided below.

How to access the SBS On Demand AD collection via web browser

Note: The SBS On Demand website is optimised to be used with Jaws, NVDA, VoiceOver and TalkBack assistive technologies.

1. On a web browser, sign up to an SBS On Demand account at SBS.com.au/ondemand. Or, with an existing account, go to the dedicated AD collection at SBS.com.au/adondemand

2. From anywhere in the SBS On Demand website, a search for ‘Audio Description’ (or variations of the keyword) will reveal SBS’s audio described content. (A search using ‘AD’ will not work, as a keyword must contain a minimum of three characters.)

3. A filter and sort feature exists for each of SBS On Demand’s curated collections (or ‘pages’) to help explore more than 200 audio described movies and more than 300 audio described TV shows, with the number of titles growing every week.

4. In the SBS On Demand web player, audiences can select Audio/Audio Described/Subtitles and Captions across a range of content. The setting will be automatically saved for your next watch.