[vicsireland] Re: Review of Broadcasting Access Rules

  • From: "Gerry Ellis" <gerry.ellis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:54:17 -0000

Hi,

 

Publicity would be useful, but a lot of confusion has to be sorted out
before we can say which organisation is responsible for what.

 

RTÉ is not the only broadcaster affected by the digital switchover. I don?t
hear much about any others.

 

Saorview, the specification for settop boxes and TVs with  integrated
reception equipment, the Accessibility Rules and Irish/European legislation
are all separate issues with different organisations responsible for each. 

 

Although she has responsibility in some areas of disability issues, Kathleen
Lynch does not have direct responsibility in the area of broadcasting.

 

RTÉ has done some work, and is continuing to do so. We need to be careful
about blasting them indiscriminently only for them to come back with a list
of successes.

 

Although we need to keep up pressure on several fronts, I suggest that the
Broadcasting Authority of Ireland is the place where most pressure could
help at this time.

 

 

 

Take care,

 

Gerry ellis

 

If you don?t know where you?re going,

How will you know when you get there?

 

From: vicsireland-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:vicsireland-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tom Langan
Sent: 10 January 2012 09:59
To: vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Review of Broadcasting Access Rules

 

in order to progress this issue furderwould it be possible to get one of the
contributors to this list to get on the Pat Kenny show. The more the public
hear of this kind of  discrimination the better chance we have of making
progress.

regards Tom.

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Owen Kyne <mailto:kyneowen@xxxxxxxxxx>  

To: vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Sent: Monday, January 09, 2012 9:14 PM

Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Review of Broadcasting Access Rules

 

Hi All.

 

The decision by R. T. E. authority to discriminate  would be made by one
official in the R. T. E. authority and there is a possibility that other
members of the authority may not be aware of the decision The Equality
Legislation  would require to be amended to make the person  who made the
decision personally liable and not the R. T. El authority The minister who
has responsibility in this area is Kathleen Lynch T. D. and it would be
interesting to know what responsibility has the National disability
Authority in making representations in matters like this.

 

Owen Kyne

  _____  

From: vicsireland-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:vicsireland-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of GERARD SHANAHAN
Sent: 29 December 2011 16:39
To: vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Review of Broadcasting Access Rules

Robbie, re-reading your emails has provoked another thought linked to the
thoughtful phrase with which Gerry Ellis, my old comrade finishes his
emails: "if you don't know where your going, how do you know when you get
there", well all I can say in this case, concerning R.T.E., R.T.E. N.L., The
B.A.I.  and Comm Reg and disability rights.  We know what we want accessible
television and suitable technology but there are so many scare crow like
figures in the field of wheat that we can't make out which is the moving
target of the farmer checking his crop so we might as well add the
Advertising Standards authority a another agency to contact and complain to,
Why?  The soarview add uses the phrase "Accessible digital television for
everyone" or such phraseology.  we seem to be acquiring more and more
agencies to tackle which in the long run will defuse the momentum of any
actions on our part, so should we just give up now and save ourselves the
bother? Can I ask Gerry , what exactly is being achieved in the audience
representitive group discussions?  As regards the sub titling, I can't
directly speak about it's quality but I know that fully sighted people with
no defective vision can find it hard to read at times due to the fact that
the text is coloured i.e. white and the background is set on the default
programme picture rather than a contrasting band of colour.  So as for
example, in a Scammal programme somemonths ago, the white text had a
background of white due to documentation on a table in the picture, Now How
thoughtless is that!!  the producers should be made watch old subtitle films
where the text was white on a font high background of black but that would
be too conventional and old fashioned.  Gerry

----- Original Message ----- 

From: RobbieS <mailto:robbiesin@xxxxxxxxx>  

To: vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 1:51 PM

Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Review of Broadcasting Access Rules

 

Hi Gerry,

 

Two proverbs come to mind:

t's good we're trying different ways to skin a cat. &

By their (RTÉ's) fruits, ye shall know them.  

 

 

RTÉ admit  they have broken the law regarding the 1% tartget by the 2006
Sectoral Plan; what worries me, is that their excuse for this shows that
they are not suitably put out by this and that we can expect more such from
them in future.  Lets hope this new BAI process is more than just a
can-kicking exercise.  

 

2.  In setting ou the spec for saorview, RTÉ ignored the needs of vips.
Now, they claim changing the spec would be too expensive - all because of
their original neglect: this denial of equal service is, of course, against
2005 Disability Act and Dept. of Communiunications Sectoral Plan (2006).  

 

I've found the email adderss of someone in Monaghan through which complaint
about this can be made (Comreg); I'll have more time to fish it out, have a
go, and post it here during the Christmas.  

 

Having said that, the person who has done most work on this for BLA has been
Pat McCarthy, and perhaps, a swopping of recipes would be useful.  Pat has
kindly allowed me to put his number here: 086-2714307.  

 

I'm sure, he's amenable to giving and accepting advice to or from anyone
interested in any facet of the RTÉ thing.  He's really covered them all.  

 

Regards,

 

Robbie

 

Also, anyone who reads Sections 53-54 will se that thse sections seem to
supercede Sectoral Plans, and RTÉ have ignored the lot.  

 

You can bring a horse to water....

 

 

Robbie

On Sun, Dec 18, 2011 at 12:23 AM, RobbieS <robbiesin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Gerry,

 

Sorry to be so brief but I don't have the time to research tat the moment.  

 

I have given hapter and verse to RTÉ in my complaints against thejm (for
what it's worth).  

 

Apart from the usual 26-38 of the Disability Act, there is also, specific to
RTÉ and other broadcasters, sections 53 and 54 of the same Act which apply
specifically to Public Sector Broadcasters.  

 

Either way, it is obvious - and RTÉ have admitted so - that RTÉ are in
breech of the Sectoral Plans to date [which I have read in full + updates] -
but they seem to think that only those with money behind them matter.  

 

Are  they right?

 

Robbie

On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 11:29 PM, Gerry Ellis
<gerry.ellis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi,

 

What legal obligations? RTE neither make settop boxes nor did they set down
the specifications for settop boxes. RTE-NL set down the specs based on an
international set of requirements, but this is separate from RTE.

 

If you have some legal details that would help in pursuing this issue I
would love to hear about them as they may add some leverage.

 

 

Take care,

 

Gerry ellis

 

If you don?t know where you?re going,

How will you know when you get there?

 

From: vicsireland-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:vicsireland-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of RobbieS
Sent: 17 December 2011 16:55
To: vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 


Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Review of Broadcasting Access Rules

 

For the record, all credit to Pat McCarthy of the Blind Legal Alliance for
getting the BAI to at least go through these motions.  

 

then, true to form in such matters, they wouldn't even inform him that
they'd acceeded to his demand/request.  

 

RTÉ have put two fingers up to the Disability Act 2005 where vips are
concerned.

 

For instance, they claim that:

a). it's not parctical in terms of cost at this late stage to have an
accessible set-top box.  Their neglect of the matter in the first place has
led to this situation, but there will probably be no accountability for this
flagrant breech ot their legal obligations.

 

Also, RTÉ claim that they couldn't meet the niggardly 1% target for
audio-description because they couldn't find companies in ireland to do it -
as if they couldn't do an in-house job if they were really serious about it.


 

Come to think of it, wouldn't an in-house job be cheeper, with no tendering
process or profit-margin required?

 

Up the BLA,

 

Robbie

 

 

 



 

On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 4:45 PM, GERARD SHANAHAN <gershan@xxxxxx> wrote:

Mark, I'm so disappointed, talk about splitting hairsIt reminds me of a
friend who hired a prosperous electrical contractor to fit a door bell:  1
supervisor, 1 bell fitter and 2 men to put in 12 feet of electrical cable
and connect the bell to the bell push.....No wonder nothing gets done in
this country Comre, BAI, R.T.E. NETWORKS, SOARVIEW, EVERYONE IS DOING
SOMETHING BUT NO ONE TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR NICHE PROBLEM SOLVING.
Shouldn't we send a submission to comreg on accessibility of
technology...This could turn into a debate and the digital change over will
have taken place before we even get an acknowledgement of submission.
regards confounded, confused and deluded Gerry
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Magennis" <Mark.magennis@xxxxxxx>
To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 10:21 AM
Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Review of Broadcasting Access Rules




Gerry,

Set top boxes are not covered by the access rules. The Access Rules only
cover content access services - audio description, subtitling, and sign
language. In fact, the BAI itself is only concerned with television content.
Technical aspects of broadcasting and networks are under the remit of
ComReg.

Mark

On 14 Dec 2011, at 21:41, GERARD SHANAHAN wrote:

Gerry, B.A.I.  have provided documentation on access for consultation on
www.bai.ie/?page_id=2006 I've just downloaded them but haven't read them yet
maybe other people should have a look and make submissions before closing
date.  Do you know if the topic of accessible set top boxes is within the
parameters?  Gerry
----- Original Message ----- From: "Gerry Ellis"
<gerry.ellis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 8:47 PM
Subject: [vicsireland] Review of Broadcasting Access Rules

Hi,

These Access Rules are set by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, but are
given statutory strength through the Sectoral Plans of the Disability Act.
The old plans required 2% of Audio Description and 2% of Subtitling, but
neither of these targets were met.

I think it would be great if VICS made a submission on the review either by
itself or as part of the TV Access group.

I would suggest that reference to the 21st Century Communications and Video
Accessibility Act from the United States would be helpful as it has far more
ambitious targets than anything that is likely to come from the BAI itself.

See details of the call for submissions at:
http://www.emara.org/news/modules.php?name=News
<http://www.emara.org/news/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7054>
&file=article&sid=7054




Take care,

Gerry ellis

If you don't know where you're going,
How will you know when you get there?



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