are available on demand after the end of the broadcast are available on demand after the end of the broadcast
Vienna (OTS) – It is an important step in the history of ORF’s barrier-free services: The nine regional editions of the TV program “Bundesland aktuell”, which can be seen daily at 7 p.m. on ORF 2, will be available with subtitles from January 1, 2024 stand. The same applies to “South Tyrol Today”, which can be seen daily at 6:30 p.m. on ORF 2 Tirol. With 1.2 million daily viewers, “Federal State Today” is one of ORF’s most important information programs. Subtitling the program therefore closes an important gap in the ORF program in terms of accessibility.
For the time being, the subtitles will be available on demand after the broadcast on ORF ON and in the TVthek apps. This is made possible by AI programs that access existing sources and then combine them with what is spoken. Only recently have the AI programs reached the necessary quality to be able to offer “Federal State Today” in its nine versions with subtitles. The ORF regional studio in Salzburg was responsible for developing the subtitling project for the “Federal State Today” broadcasts. In the near future, the technically challenging step of offering live subtitles for the broadcast on nine teletext pages will be made possible.
For the ORF, which sets a role model in Austria with its barrier-free services (subtitling, audio description, translation into Austrian sign language, news in simple language), the subtitling of “Federal State Today” is another important step towards a 100 percent subtitling quota. which should be achieved by 2030. The ORF is on a very good path here:
Almost 80 percent of the ORF 1 and ORF 2 programs are subtitled, and in the evening before and after the evening it is significantly more than 90 percent.
ORF General Director Mag. Roland Weißmann: “The ORF is in a pioneering role throughout Europe with its barrier-free services, which is why I am particularly pleased that from next year ‘Bundesland today’, one of our most important information programs, will also be available with subtitles. The use of AI-supported technology makes this possible. In the spirit of inclusion and accessibility, the ORF is further expanding its range of information for people with disabilities and is becoming even more of an ORF for everyone in Austria!”
Martin Ladstätter, MA, ORF audience councilor for the representation of disabled people, nominated by the Austrian Council for the Disabled:
“’Federal State Today’ is one of the most popular programs in Austria and it is important that accessibility is created here too. And as the Austrian Council for the Disabled, we are very happy about it and see it as progress in the ORF’s accessibility.”
Ing. Lukas Huber, Secretary General of the Austrian Association of the Deaf: “Since 1988, the deaf community has been demanding that the ‘Federal State Today’ programs be subtitled and it’s great that the ORF is setting this milestone and that the implementation will work.”
Prof. Pius Strobl, ORF Head of Corporate Social Responsibility: “More than 40 years ago, the ORF set a milestone for a barrier-free media landscape by creating inclusive access through subtitling in numerous TV programs. While we started with five hours a week in 1980, we now subtitle 350 hours of television programs every week. Our commitment through personal interaction with deaf associations gives us the opportunity to constantly adapt the offer to the needs of the target group. With the now technologically feasible subtitling of all “Federal State Today” programs, we are responding to the strong interest of people with hearing impairments in information-rich formats.”
ORF barrier-free services
The ORF has a unique selling point in Austria with its barrier-free offerings and is continually expanding its services. The ORF’s barrier-free offering has once again increased compared to previous years in all services (subtitling, audio description, ÖGS, news in simple language). Currently almost 80 percent are subtitled in ORF 1 and ORF 2 and more than 45 percent in ORF III. In the high-reach primetime zone, more than 90 percent of all programs on ORF 1 and ORF 2 are available with subtitles. In the previous year, the UT quota for ORF 1 and ORF 2 was around 75 percent and for ORF III it was around 35 percent. On average, 640 hours per year are broadcast in sign. Before the start of the corona pandemic (2019) there were significantly fewer. Since then, ORF has been able to increase this offer by 40 percent.
For people with visual impairments, an average of around seven hours a day is currently offered with acoustic image description. In 2022, the offer was expanded to around 2,600 hours per year. In comparison, in 2021 there were still around 2,100 hours per year.
ORF TELETEXT has been publishing news in simple language since 2017. Since 2022, all nine regional radio stations have been broadcasting a daily news block in simple language. Radio Vienna has an additional offering on Sunday mornings in the children’s program “WoW – Wissen oder Was”. ORF III offers news in simple language as television news from Monday to Friday at 7:25 p.m. These messages were extended from two to five minutes in December 2023. And on news.ORF.at, six news blocks have been offered daily in a separate news ticker prominently on the homepage since May 2020.
The technical developments of artificial intelligence (AI), which are already being tested for the various services and play an important technical role in connection with the subtitling of “Federal State Today”, will continue to be important for the expansion of the ORF’s barrier-free offerings in the coming years .
Further information on the performance data and the current action plan for barrier-free offerings on ORF can be found here:
https://der.ORF.at/unternehmen/humanitarian/barrierefreiheit/aktionsp
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