K.J. Yossman Channel 4 has “reaffirmed” its commitment to access services such as subtitles in light of an investigation by U.K.
media regulator Ofcom.The investigation relates to a prolonged outage to its subtitling, signing and audio description services last year after a fire alarm at distribution hub Red Bee Media.A number of broadcasters’ access services were disrupted but Channel 4’s was the most prolonged disruption, with services ceasing on Sept.
25 and not fully resuming until Nov. 19, a period of almost two months.Ofcom has confirmed to Variety the investigation into Channel 4’s compliance with government quotas for access services is still ongoing.Despite that, the beleaguered broadcaster, which is at risk of being privatized, has set out to reaffirm its commitment to access services.
It has confirmed it will provide 86 hours of access services-supported programming during the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games, including the opening and closing ceremonies, live sports coverage and the daily highlights shows.It has also promised to “over-deliver” on regulatory quotas and surpass other U.K.
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