SECRETARY'S NEWS

Welcome to the first Mailshot of the new millennium. Predictions that the world would come to an end failed to materialise and we are delighted to still be here with you to share news and views on broadcasting.

The end of the 20th Century was notable for massive subtitling output to ensure that deaf and hard of hearing people had access to programmes during the festive season. BBC pulled a cracker by subtitling most of the 27-hour New Year's Eve world-wide round up. The bits I saw were marvellous, it was exciting to be able to watch so many different people welcoming the new century, the programme was specially appreciated by those who were stuck at home with flu!

The bad news is that we are still receiving complaints about subtitling which indicate that transmission faults have still not been rectified. Although frustrating, it is fair to say that finding the source of the problem is very difficult due to the number of pieces of equipment involved. The BBC say "there is a long chain of many different computers involved in preparing and transmitting subtitles. Breakdowns occur when these computers fail to 'talk to' each other correctly and it is very difficult to find out where the problem is, never mind correct it. However, we are all working very hard to reduce - and eliminate - transmission breakdowns."

Congratulations to Carlton for including an item about a deaf child in a recent edition of Peak Practice. Viewers were happy with the way the and programme and the way the story line was smoothly woven into the programme.

Complaints about intrusive background music are increasing, it's the same old story of "background" music or sound effects drowning the dialogue. Indeed we noted a report in the Sports column of The Times newspaper which included the comment that: "These days, we have fast cutting, never the same image for more than a second in case we switch off, loud music to wake us up and breathless presenters telling us how absolutely wonderful everything is." It's comforting to know that hearing people notice the loud music as well but it would be even more comforting if broadcasters would try to do something about it.

Some subscribers to FilmFour said they could not find information about subtitling - page 103 gives details of programmes with subtitles for the coming week.

Rhena Stitt could not believe her eyes when she found that Lorraine Kelly's segment of GMTV is now subtitled! Meridian have informed us that daytime live subtitling of the local news will take place on a regular basis from March 6th.

DBC will have a stand at the NDCS Technology Ehibition which will be held at Dunstall Park Racecourse, Wolverhampton on 23 June and 24 June. Do come and see us there.

Media listings continue to be frustrating because they either omit information or it isn't correct. Until October last, The Sun newspaper didn't flag subtitled programmes. Ken Smith wrote to point out this omission and they promptly put it right. Similarly, I noticed that Sainsbury's Magazine did not mention captionng in the video reviews and they too took this request on board. It clearly pays to draw these failings to the attention of the editors, DBC hopes more people will follow our example.

LOTTERY SUCCESS

DBC has been awarded a Lottery grant, mainly to pay for part time help in our increasingly busy office. Julia has already started working for us and has been invaluable in helping to put this edition of Mailshot together. Although the grant is only for six months, we will seek further funding from other sources. If any of our members are good at fund raising, please get in touch!

4th DEAF FILM AND TELEVISION FESTIVAL

"My name is Todd Gamer, I attended the 4th Deaf Film and Television Festival recently. At 7.30am I had to leave home for the day at Wolverhampton for the Festival, I went with my brother Craig. I was a bit nervous but also excited about what I would be doing."

"It was a great day, I was very interested in the cameraman, how he worked and how the film was made and how everything was set up."

"I would like next years Festival to be longer."

"The staff signing was clear and they were funny, they made me laugh. The people who run the workshop have fantastic ideas. I am really grateful to the organisers of the event as anything to do with drama and films is so interesting as I would love any chance to act."

"I really hope I can go again next year"

WWTBAM

Following discussions at the end of last year with the BDA, DBC, Hearing Concern and the RNID, in February and March, Typetalk and Broadsystems, the company running the telephone lines for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, will be running closed trials with volunteers from the DBC and other associations to make the quiz show more accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers.

After the trials, the ITV Network, Celador Productions, Broadsystems and Typetalk will be meeting the DBC and other deaf and hard-of-hearing associations again to finalise the arrangements for the introduction of the text-based system, and to agree other details such as "phone a friend".

"The ITV Network and Celador have aimed from the launch to make Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? accessible to the broadest possible audience", said ITV Director of Programmes, David Liddiment. "We welcome the constructive dialogue with deaf and hard-of-hearing organisations to achieve this objective"

STUDIO AUDIENCES

Asif Iqbal successfully lobbied LWT and the BBC to allow deaf people to watch programmes being recorded and both companies agreed to meet the costs of communication support.

If you are interested in watching programmes being recorded, contact details are:

LWT studio audience tickets:
Tel (voice): 020 7620 1620
Fax : 020 7261 8027

BBC audience services:
Tel (voice) 020 8576 12
Fax: 020 8576 8802
Email: tv.ticket@bbc.co.uk