The BBC has announced it will be experimenting with a change to Audio Description commentary during the FA Cup Final. Is it another attempt at cost-cutting?
- BBC to replace Audio Description with radio commentary
- Some Freeview users may need to adjust settings during the match
- Affected viewers may hear radio and TV commentary on top of each other
The BBC has confirmed it isn’t planning to offer regular Audio Description commentary of Saturday’s men’s FA Cup final between Chelsea and Manchester City.
Audio Description (AD) is a function on digital TV that adds extra explanatory commentary to help blind or visually impaired users. A wide range of programmes from live sport to soaps carry Audio Description across all major channels.
Spun by the BBC as a “trial of a different type of AD”, the corporation will replace regular AD with radio commentary.
Viewers with AD switched on will hear FA Cup Final commentary from BBC Radio 5 Live instead. During half-time and after the match, the AD audio feed will switch, potentially abruptly, back to the regular BBC One audio.
Giving viewers the option to listen to radio commentary during live TV games isn’t new. It was one of the first use cases for the red button since the early days of first generation digital TV services. But not as a replacement for AD.
Duplication
The change to BBC One Audio Description means radio commentary will be offered twice during the FA Cup final.
The BBC was already planning to offer 5 Live commentary alongside TV pictures via the BBC Red Button. (Freeview 601, Sky satellite and Freesat channel 970 and Virgin Media 991.) Both BBC One and BBC Red Button 1 will carry the same pictures. BBC Red Button 1 will carry the radio commentary at a higher audio bitrate than the AD feed on BBC One.
Why the trial could cause problems
The BBC has warned that “main audio may not fade correctly” on some Freeview and YouView devices, although it declined to clarify exact models.
Normally, the AD sound track complements the existing BBC One audio track with occasional explanatory inserts to aid visually impaired viewers. It is designed to work alongside the regular audio feed. Some devices overlay AD over the better quality stereo or Dolby Surround Sound main audio track.
Due to this trial, the AD sound track will carry completely different non-complementary audio. Devices that don’t fully fade the main audio track will play back two soundtracks over each other, the normal TV commentary and the radio commentary.
What does the BBC advise?
It’s telling visually impaired users affected by this issue to turn AD off. It also adds if users are viewers are using BBC One SD, “switching to BBC One HD may also resolve the issue.”
The BBC hasn’t though promoted the option to switch to BBC Red Button 1 on Freeview 601. This is scheduled to provide undisturbed radio commentary that may be better suited to visually impaired viewers. This may be a more viable option if a visually impaired viewer is joined by a non-impaired viewer to watch the game together.
The non-promotion of BBC Red Button appears to be in line with the BBC’s current policy of not actively promoting the linear red button service. It continues to promote pressing red for iPlayer-delivered streams only.
Cost-cutting?
This “trial of a different type of AD” involves removing a dedicated audio description feed specifically designed for TV.
The BBC will be eagerly seeing if it can get away with not producing a seperate feed without backlash. It is just the latest change to BBC output where cost-cutting appears to be an underlying factor.
On the flipside, it’s unclear how many blind or visually impaired users would be following the BBC TV coverage. Low usage would provide the BBC with a non-value for money justification.
However, with research indicating Freeview having a greater proportion of disabled users than other platforms, the main audio fade issue on Freeview devices could cause some annoyance in households where AD is permanently turned on, particularly as this arrangement has not been widely advertised.
- The FA Cup final is live on BBC One, BBC RB1 and TNT Sports 1 at 15:00. A live stream is available on BBC iPlayer (free) and HBO Max (subscription).
By: Marc Thornham