New Accessible TV Guide rolls out on Freeview Play at Channel 555

Freeview today announced the first rollout of its award-winning Accessible TV Guide, now available at Channel 555 on supported Freeview Play devices.

Freeview’s Accessible TV Guide will make it simpler for viewers with accessibility needs, such as visual impairments or hearing loss, to discover and find content more easily.

Developed with insight from viewers, advocacy groups, and accessibility research agencies, including the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), Scope and the Digital Accessibility Centre, the Accessible TV Guide won Gold at this year’s Connected TV Awards for ‘Advancing the User Experience’.

The first dedicated accessibility solution to launch on a UK TV platform, the guide is easy to find via Channel 555 on Freeview Play TVs and offers viewers a seamless experience which is uniform across devices and works straight out of the box.

The user journey has been designed to be simple to navigate for viewers with visual impairments, with a high contrast UI, screen magnification, and text-to-speech functionality.

Upon selecting Channel 555 on a supported device, viewers will be asked for their preferred accessibility settings from the below options –

Use Text to Speech for on-screen navigation
Show only programmes with audio description
Show only programmes with subtitles
Show only programmes with sign language

Source: Freeview