Subtitles on Catch up services

Pegleg01

Subtitles on TV catch up services are woeful. For instance, I am hard of hearing and wear a deaf aid.
Through my regular TV ITV Hub provide no subtitles to any programmes. Complained to them they said they had some catching up to do and this issue was not considered when Hub was launched, but I can watch it with subtitles using Firefox on a computer. All other broadcasters I've spoken to say similar. Contacted Ofcom, they haven't bothered to reply yet. There is an Act of Parliament called the Digital Economy Act 2017 which addresses this matter to a degree but have never been enacted by this government.
Write to Ofcom, broadcasters and your MP. Make them address this issue.

Neil_Jones

Well the act of which you speak received royal assent in April 2017 so it was passed - indeed it put the BBC under the regulation of Ofcom.  There is nothing in the act of which you speak with regards to subtitles.

CoastingHatbox

It is here:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/30/section/93/enacted

Section 93

Clause 1

The Secretary of State may by regulations impose requirements on providers of on-demand programme services for the purpose of ensuring that their services are accessible to people with disabilities affecting their sight or hearing or both.

Clause 2
The requirements that may be imposed include—

(a)requirements for programmes included in the services to be accompanied by subtitling;

(b)requirements for such programmes to be accompanied by audio-description for the blind;

(c)requirements for such programmes to be presented in, or translated into, sign language.

Pegleg01

CoastingsHatbox is correct I urge all people who suffer from hearing loss to contact RNID and join their Subtitle it! campaign. Deafness or hearing loss is a disability. Ofcom and this government really need to address this issue.

[Deleted User]

Pegleg01 said:

Subtitles on TV catch up services are woeful. For instance, I am hard of hearing and wear a deaf aid.
Through my regular TV ITV Hub provide no subtitles to any programmes. Complained to them they said they had some catching up to do and this issue was not considered when Hub was launched, but I can watch it with subtitles using Firefox on a computer. All other broadcasters I've spoken to say similar. Contacted Ofcom, they haven't bothered to reply yet. There is an Act of Parliament called the Digital Economy Act 2017 which addresses this matter to a degree but have never been enacted by this government.
Write to Ofcom, broadcasters and your MP. Make them address this issue.

Are you sure it is an Ofcom / MP issue, maybe your TV / version of ITV Hub is outdated because I have subtitles available through ITV hub on my Samsung smart TV?

Pegleg01

Hi you make a very valid and important  point. ITV have pointed out to me, and I have it in an email that they do not have any issues with post 2017 Samsung tvs' but they have technical difficulties with other tv brands such as mine which are both Sony, one is a smart TV one isn't. My point is subtitles should be available to all who require it, not dependent on how old or what brand of TV you have or can afford. Until I started to have hearing difficulties and contacted the RNID I did not realise how important it is that  broadcasters/Ofcom and government address this issue.

[Deleted User]

Pegleg01 said:

Hi you make a very valid and important  point. ITV have pointed out to me, and I have it in an email that they do not have any issues with post 2017 Samsung tvs' but they have technical difficulties with other tv brands such as mine which are both Sony, one is a smart TV one isn't. My point is subtitles should be available to all who require it, not dependent on how old or what brand of TV you have or can afford. Until I started to have hearing difficulties and contacted the RNID I did not realise how important it is that  broadcasters/Ofcom and government address this issue.

Right, interesting, I've just had a look into it and it appears that subtitle support is different across a the range of devices and TV providers and it looks difficult to pick a single device that supports all catch up channels.

For example BBC seem to have the widest range of support:

• BBC iPlayer app on mobiles and tablets
• BBC iPlayer app on most connected TV devices
• BBC iPlayer app on games consoles
• BBC iPlayer website on computers and laptops
• BBC iPlayer website on mobiles and tablets
• BT Vision
• Chromecast (black & white subtitles only)
• Freesat G2
• Sky On Demand (programmes broadcast since 26 October 2020)
• Sky Q (via the BBC iPlayer app)
• Virgin Media TiVo
• YouView

And ITV more limited:

• Our website 
• Our Android and iOS mobile apps 
• Samsung Smart TVs (2017 TVs and above) 
• TVs using Freeview Play (2017 devices and above).
• Amazon Fire TV
• Sky Now TV
• Apple TV

All 4:

• Website
• iPhone/iPad app (for streaming)
• A number of Android mobile and tablet apps (for downloads and streaming)
• YouView
• PS4
• Amazon Fire
• Freeview Play
• Samsung devices
• Sky

All of them seem to support it on the website so until anything changes I suggest you look into plugging your computer into the TV - this isn't going to be fixed soon, probably never for older devices. 

Amazon Firestick seems well supported for the major broadcasters as well.

It is highly unlikely they will provide back dated support for old and incompatible TV's, there are just so many versions of the app across so many platforms (1000+ for iPlayer) that I can't see them updating all apps especially for out of support platforms.

In some cases it will be limitations with the TV / device hardware, overlaying subtitles requires re-processing the image and some cheaper or older TV's may not have the hardware capabilities to re-encode internet streamed TV to add the subtitles so will never be capable no matter what the government says.

Pegleg01

Hi, very haphazard service as you point out. Not everyone is so technically minded as to know how to access this vital service. I take the point concerning older TVs.  ITV hub was not launched that many years ago but ITV admit no thought was given to this issue.As we have an ageing population unless enforceable quotas are introduced by Ofcom the situation is not going to improve.