The National Television Authority, ANTV, issued the resolution regulating the implementation of access systems for people with hearing disabilities in content transmitted through the public television service.
By Richard Santa
According to the latest Census conducted in Colombia by the Dane, 6.3% of the total population has some type of disability that hinders the execution of daily activities. Within this percentage, 1.1% represent the hearing impaired population.
That is why after a long process, the entity issued Resolution 350 of 2016 that obliges concessionaires of television spaces of Canal UNO, open television operators with national, regional and local coverage, as well as subscription television concessionaires in their own production channel, to implement the systems that guarantee this population access to television.
Operators must begin to provide access systems in their programming, so that by June 30, 2016, 60% of the programming already has closed caption or subtitles and by January 31, 2017 100% of the programming is completed.
The Resolution includes measures of warning, promotion, implementation, non-restriction in closed television, evaluation and reporting of information. Failure to implement these systems may be punished with fines of up to 2,000 minimum wages, suspension of service and expiration of the granting or cancellation of the license.
The options
The access systems that the concessionaires will be able to implement must take into account Spanish as the official language of the country, the speed and readability of issuance of these systems:
Colombian Sign Language (LSC) Interpretation
Closed caption (CC) text
Subtitling (ST)
The systems or mechanisms that are developed in the future and have the respective endorsement of the competent entity.
Efforts fall short
Despite how curious it may seem, closed caption or subtitles is not enough. The population with hearing capacity in Colombia has as its main language sign language and its second language would be Spanish. According to studies by the National Institute for the Deaf, Insor, only two out of ten people know Spanish. In that sense, literacy levels among the deaf population are low.
Marcela Cubides Salazar, General Director of Insor, told TVyVideo+Radio that Colombian Sign Language is essential for the population, which according to the constitution is a linguistic minority, to have full guarantee of rights, political participation and education.
"All the tasks that have been done in terms of closed caption and subtitling are not enough, you have to invest in interpretation and Colombian sign language and also in content, these being used as a way to educate and train, since television can become a fundamental mechanism to overcome the illiteracy of the deaf population, " Added.
For people who have lost the ability to listen, so their main language is Spanish, closed caption and subtitling are an effective solution. But those who are deaf from birth, begin to learn sign language at the age of eight and then be able to learn Spanish, being a long and complex process to become bilingual, that is, to know sign language and Spanish.
As part of the solutions that have been proposed to guarantee full access of television to the deaf population, the possibility of having a TV channel aimed exclusively at this population has been contemplated, which guarantees communication through sign language, closed caption and subtitling.
The initial idea is that the contents of this channel are contributed by both public television and private open television, each contributing programs such as news, series, novels, magazines, and the television authority would be responsible for adding closed caption, subtitling and sign language.
At the working table for the creation of this channel are seated the Presidency of the Republic, the Ministry of Education, Insor, Asomedios, the ANTV, and other guarantors. But there are technical issues that are yet to be defined, such as where the channel and spectrum to be used goes. Asomedios has given its support to the project and even informed of its willingness to support economically.
An operation as complex as the one proposed, which requires agreeing on the different actors for its execution, has made an exclusive channel for deaf population an idea that has been working for seven years without seeing the light and without a planned date yet.
Background
The regulatory process to implement access systems began in 2003 when the defunct National Television Commission – CNTV, through resolution 802, determined dates for that execution, until today, that task that the ANTV has continued through a process of adjustments to the regulations has included, among others, investigations, the presentation of documents and regulatory projects duly supported, the receipt of observations, concerns and comments that have been included according to their relevance.
The last regulatory project that was brought to the attention of Colombians, was published in December of last year and received, until January 31 of this year, 20 comments, which were taken into account by the ANTV to issue the standard.
Finally, it is important to note that the National Television Authority took into account more than 12 international experiences in which the legal frameworks and mechanisms used for the implementation of access systems in the television service to guarantee access for the hearing impaired population were analyzed.
Colombia, a regional example
Due to its wide interest in making an inclusive television, in Latin America Colombia is a pioneer in this subject and is seen as an example by other countries in the region. In the international arena, Japan and Spain are countries in which a lot of progress has been made with different technologies and practically 100% of television is inclusive.
Public and private television in Colombia is also making efforts but more are needed. Agreement 001 of 2012 indicated that by 2016 public television should have 35% of its content with sign language and 40% with closed caption, but it is not being fulfilled.
Finally, Marcela Cubides recalled that providing access to television to the deaf population is not a social work or charity, but it is a right to information of the deaf population and so it is established constitutionally.
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