One year has passed since the first broadcast of audio description went to air in New Zealand. Yes it was Coronation Street, broadcast with audio description on the first of March 2011. For the first few months, that was the only programme available with audio description. But things have advanced quite a bit since then.

One year has passed since the first broadcast of audio description went to air in New Zealand. Yes it was Coronation Street, broadcast with audio description on the first of March 2011. For the first few months, that was the only programme available with audio description. But things have advanced quite a bit since then.

The most important development came in July, when New Zealand On Air announced that funding for audio description would be continued for the current year. This was great news because, now we are in the second year, and much of the initial setting up work has been done, there is more money for programmes.

So since July there has been a marked increase in the range of programmes now being broadcast with audio description, and in addition to TV1, this now extends to include TV2. So now we seem to be averaging around 8 to 10 hours a week.

During the setup period, TVNZ did a lot of preparatory work so they could audio describe programmes themselves. It’s true they can purchase a wide range of programmes from overseas that come with audio description, but being able to do their own descriptions is particularly important for local programmes. Shortland Street fans will be pleased to know that this programme is now broadcast regularly with audio description done by TVNZ, and TVNZ is also audio describing Winners and Losers, which I think comes from Australia.

There are also new ways now to plan your TV viewing if you are keen to watch programmes with audio description. One way is on the Telephone Information Service run by the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind. This service has programme listings for a range of TV channels and radio stations on option 2. You can phone TIS and take option 2, then choose the day of the week and then choose from the available stations. When you read the listings for TV1 and 2, you will hear which programmes will have audio description.

Another way is to go to the new TVNZ website that focuses on audio description and captioning, then choose the link for audio description, and then the link to programmes with audio description. This is updated from week to week and gives you a list of all the programmes in the coming week or two that will have audio description.

As an example of the kind of programmes now available with audio description, here is a summary of these programmes to be broadcast this coming week.

• We have Winners and Losers on TV1 on Saturday evening and Wednesday evening,
• Shortland Street omnibus edition on TV2 on Sunday,
• Shortland Street on TV2 on Monday through to Friday in the morning and also the evening of course,
• Once upon a time on TV2 on Sunday and also Thursday evening,
• Go Girls on TV2 on Tuesday evening,
• Five Daughters on TV1 late on Wednesday evening,
• Coronation Street on TV1 on Thursday and Friday evenings,
• Doc Martin on TV1 on Friday evening,
• and Single Father on TV1 on Friday evening.

The thing to remember though is that audio description is currently only available on selected programmes broadcast on TV1 and TV2, and only on Freeview. It is not yet available on Sky, not even on TV1 and TV2 as relayed on Sky, though we continue to be in talks with Sky to persuade them to at least relay the audio description on TV1 and TV2. So if you already subscribe to Sky, maybe you should continue to wait patiently and it may happen.

Otherwise if you want to enjoy television with audio description, you will need to buy a TV or set top box that receives Freeview, and our advice is to choose a unit that carries the official Freeview certificate. That certificate indicates that the equipment supports the Freeview standard in full, which means it should give you access to audio description, whereas some equipment without the sticker may not.

We are certainly aware of people who have gone out and bought Freeview equipment just from their local shops and had it installed as you normally would. And these people are now enjoying audio description. Our vision was always that it should be available on mainstream products, and if you stick to the officially certified Freeview equipment, even though it might be a little more expensive, then it should work.

Still having said that, some models may well be better than others, and some models may work well even if they don’t carry the Freeview certificate. So if you are looking to buy a new TV or set top box, you might do well to ask others in the blind community which models work best.

From my personal point of view, audio description has certainly changed the way my partner and I approach TV here at home. Now I regularly check to see what’s coming up and we’ve certainly taken time to sit down quietly and enjoy some programmes and films when we know they will have audio description, when we wouldn’t otherwise have bothered.

We continue to keep in touch with TVNZ and New Zealand On Air, and as I explained earlier, with Sky, to keep advocating for development of audio description on New Zealand television. It’s true audio description is still in its early beginnings on New Zealand television, but we feel it has been a real success. People with disabilities are entitled to be fully involved in the culture of Society, and there is no doubt that television and the media in general are central to our culture. It may seem odd at first glance, but even TV stations have some obligation to meet the needs of blind and vision impaired people, and audio description technology is one way they can do this. New Zealand On Air and TVNZ have shown the way.