SECRETARY'S ROUND-UP

Christmas and the new year were notable for the amount of subtitling provided. Congratulations to all concerned in keeping us glued to the "box" and ensuring that we were able to watch our favourite programmes with our friends and families. Feedback was positive with no major problems reported which was warmly welcomed by the DBC office as well as viewers! I noticed that at the end of the 3pm transmission of the Queen's broadcast, an in-vision caption flashed past to the effect that "The Queen's broadcast with signing and subtitles……." But it was too quick to note when and where the repeat would be shown which rendered the caption virtually useless.

Film fans specially appreciated subtitles for the Laurel and Hardy movies over Christmas, Tony Winstanley - and several others - said "it was the first time he was able to access Laurel and Hardy, it had me roaring with laughter".

From time to time we receive complaints about incorrect subtitling listings on ITV teletext pages. Please be aware that there are two sources of subtitle listings on ITV text pages - one is the Teletext pages (page 113) and the other is within the ITV broadcaster's own text pages which commence at page 600. We recommend that you always check with the broadcaster's own text pages as these will have the most up-to-date information about ITV subtitling.

Once again Richard Whiteley, presenter of the Channel 4 programme, Countdown, has taken the opportunity to draw attention to subtitling. In a recent programme the target for the numbers game was '888', Richard immediately said something on the lines that this is the teletext page on which subtitling can be found and praised the subtitlers for their output. We wrote and thanked him for his positive comments and invited him to become a patron of the DBC, an invitation we are pleased to say he has accepted.

Meridian have written to remind us that DeafText can be found on pages 691-693 of their teletext service - we hope Meridian viewers will look in and send contributions if they wish.

Signed programmes are still being screened in the wee small hours. Please make an effort to record them if you are not a night owl (who stays up all night). The different ways in which access is provided is interesting, it can be seen on BBC and ITV analogue channels. We know you would sooner be able to watch signing at popular viewing times, however, if you are unable to watch a programme at any time, those of you with video recorders record it and watch the tape later. Why not do the same with middle of the night signed programmes, having seen some of them they are very good and it is interesting to see the different styles of interpreting and presenting. As always, feedback sent to the DBC will be passed to the relevant broadcaster.

Access to BBC regional news has been disappointing recently, either the whole programme has not been subtitled or the dreaded apology for inability to subtitle live items of news has appeared. DBC has made strong representations to the BBC because it is clearly unacceptable for only part of a programme to be accessible, especially in view of the extreme weather conditions this winter. We need to know what is happening in our regions so that we know what to expect. It would not matter so much if Ceefax regional news stories mirror regional news items on the actual programme but any attempt to use Ceefax pages in this way is doomed to failure. We have been assured that the BBC hopes to have a more reliable service up and running in the Spring - and we hope that it will be extended to Breakfast programmes at an early date.

But the BBC can get it right - we pointed out that on the old Breakfast programmes, the subtitles frequently covered the in-vision clock. Viewers were so absorbed watching the programmes that they ran the risk of missing their trains. When Breakfast was re-launched in October, subtitles no longer covered the clock - an excellent example of how co-operation between a number of different departments can be effective.

A viewer was unhappy that Channel 5 did not provide subtitles for the News headlines screened during movies. C5 have written to say that subtitles are now available for the News headlines which shows that broadcasters do listen to feedback.

Broadcasters still don't give the same priority to publicity of ancillary services (subtitling and sign language) as they do for general programming which means that many people who could benefit from both services don't even know they exist. In a way this could be construed as discrimination - clearly everyone will expect to hear the programme, why not also inform all those who use subtitles that they, too, will have access? We have suggested an in-vision caption on programme trailers informing viewers the programme would be subtitled but so far the suggestion has fallen on "deaf ears".

DCMS Review of Subtitling and Sign Language Quotas

The target for the provision of subtitling on DTT services will be raised to 80% of programming by the tenth anniversary of the start of the service (the previous target was 50%). We will press the government to recognise that the target should be increased to 95% because, as time goes by, the cost of providing the service should fall. We set the target at 95% because a target of 100% would expose broadcasters to legal action every time subtitles fail to appear or a programme cannot be subtitled for one reason or another. Too rigid a framework would be expensive and unhelpful to everyone, but the ultimate aim should always be for 100% of programmes to be subtitled.

At last the government has accepted that mandatory requirements to provide subtitling and sign language on digital terrestrial television (DTT) should be extended to cable and digital cable and satellite services. The bad news is that it won't take effect on cable and satellite channels until the legislation has been passed and that could, at the very least, take some months because all the signs point to this being an election year. I would be surprised if the proposed changes will even be discussed until the autumn because everything will put to one side until Parliament reassembles, following which the new Parliament will no doubt have its own priorities. When your MP asks for your vote, make sure you ask him/her to ensure the new Parliament passes this legislation at an early date - and that he/she will support the campaign for 95% subtitling on all channels.

DBC, however, considers that the digital and satellite quotas are too low as they will not even take effect until later this year or early in 2002. If the initial target is similar to current legislation, the quota for the first year would only be 10% which is ridiculous. We hope we can count on your support in seeking higher targets.

We welcome the statement that broadcasters and subtitling companies are committed to providing a high quality service because quantity and quality must go together if we are to derive full benefit from subtitling and signing.

The target for sign language was unchanged at 5% by the tenth anniversary of the start of the service, but will be kept under review every two years.

VIDEO UPDATE

We have received an assurance from Panasonic that "the current models which incorporate the subtitling and closed caption functions are continuing into the forseeable future". They have taken on board the need to simplify their product handbooks but point out that machines which incorporate features for deaf people usually have higher specifications.

Anthony Kent reports that it is proving very difficult to encourage VCR manufacturers to introduce models which can record subtitles, the usual answer is that "demand is small" or "it would not be commercially viable… due to the high costs of development…… and the retail price would be disproportionately high and the sell through would be unsatisfactory." Panasonic is considered to have "a firm foothold in this limited marketplace".

The Thomson VTH6080U records subtitles in black and white. The VTH7090 records subtitles in colour as also does the DVH8090 which is a digital machine which will record for 7 hours in standard play mode but up to 21 hours at a slower speed. It will play both VHS and Super VHS tapes but although it is a digital machine, it will not record digital programmes unless it is connected to a digital set-top-box. [Remember - you can use any VCR to record digital programmes - including Sky].

Sarabec supply a VideoReader (£52,88 inc VAT) for use with closed caption videos - ie those with the 'Q' symbol. It is simple to operate and easy to connect the TV and video recorder.

The National Subtitling Library (NSLDP) continues to operate a postal hire service of videos with subtitles which can be viewed on any VCR, not just one which can decode subtitles. There are more than 450 titles available and it costs just £5 to join the postal video hire club plus £3.50 handling charge for each video hired. Make sure your local library stocks these videos - NSLDP videos are not normally left on the shelves, you have to ask the librarian for them and the service is not publicised which seems to be the norm where services for deaf people are concerned.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Thanks to sponsorship from Manweb, DBC will be present at four major exhibitions this year. The first one is the City Lit Open Day which will be held at the Central Hall, Westminster, London S W 1 on Saturday 19th May, 10.00 to 17.00.

The next event will be the NDCS Technology Exhibition at Dunstall Park Racecourse, Wolverhampton, on Friday 22 June (0930 to 1730) and Saturday 23 June (0930 to 1600).

DIGITAL NEWS

A reminder for subscribers to Sky digital services - to access subtitles, switch on the "language and subtitles" menu. Once selected, subtitles will appear automatically whenever they are available until you cancel the selection by switching off the subtitle selection.

Good news for NTL digital subscribers is that by 7th March subtitles will be up and running for BBC1, BBC2, ITV, C4 and C5. Telewest have said that their service will be available from the end of March.

Simon McTighe and several other NTL subscribers reported that it has been very difficult to find anyone at NTL who is knowledgeable about current availability of subtitling on digital cable. He pointed out that NTL should not have offered their Digital Plus service until they were confident that subscribers would and could receive a full service and that this has led to a lot of annoyance for deaf people. We hope that these teething problems will soon be resolved and that both companies improve their customer services. Please let us know if you need help at any time.

Do any of you have interactive TV (a TV set with keyboard) for email and or accessing the Internet? If so we would welcome some comments, for example was it easy to set it all up and use it? Were you satisfied with the services on offer and could you get all the information you wanted from the Internet?

John Savva, the DBC cable and satellite rep, tells us that the Paramount Comedy Channel (available on ONdigital) has subtitles for all episodes of Frasier and some episodes of Roseanne. Paramount realise this level of access is disappointing but cannot provide more at the moment.