New Delhi: The Indian Digital Media Industry Foundation (IDMIF) has reiterated its commitment to accessibility standards for people with disabilities to ensure they are able to enjoy the content that OTTs produce.
The statement from IDMIF, under the Digital Media Content Regulatory Council (DMCRC), a self-regulatory body for OTT platforms, came in response to the information and broadcasting ministry’s call for inputs regarding the formulation of accessibility standards for differently abled viewers.
IDMIF, which includes services such as Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, Voot and SonyLIV, among others, said its members have been taking several steps to promote accessibility. These include subtitling for a majority of content, providing a textual representation of dialogue and increasing offering of closed captioning (CC), which includes descriptions of other sounds in addition to dialogue. Certain members also provide audio descriptors (AD), which allow viewers to hear a description of what is on screen in addition to the dialogue in a scene.
Some platforms have enabled a text control feature which allows text on mobile applications to be resized up to 200% without affecting functionality. A few are working to provide screen reader support, which allows users to hear the text displayed on screen for basic platform navigation.
To be sure, some member platforms also highlighted challenges to implementing accessibility measures for live content (due to technological restrictions) and archival and licensed content (due to issues related to rights). The IDMIF members underscored their support for MIB’s objective in making services accessible and noted that OCCPs will continue to provide accessibility in line with the Code of Ethics under the IT Rules.
“Since OCCPs are still growing and exploring as an industry, it would be advisable that the Accessibility Standards to be proposed for OCCPs provide a reasonable timeline for the industry as a whole to cope and prepare for adequate compliances. Though relevant technology may be available, the practical implementation of the same would require support and reasonable time from the MIB. Accordingly, considering the preparedness of the industry and the potential lack of enough service providers who can render services for accessibility, the MIB is requested to consider issuing the Accessibility Standards in the form of guidelines enabling accessibility features in content over a period through phased graded targets in consultation with the OCCPs,” members have said in a letter to the ministry.
IDMIF is a subsidiary of the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF), representing leading online content curation platforms and working on policy advocacy and content regulation through the DMCRC.
Article Credit: Mint