All channels to carry news bulletin with sign language interpretation: I&B Minister

Live news, live and deferred live content/events such as sports, live music shows, award shows, live reality shows, live debates, scripted/ unscripted reality shows, etc. and advertisements/ teleshopping content have however been exempted.

In order to enhance the accessibility of television programs for the hearing impaired, Union Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar announced the implementation of Accessibility Standard for TV Programmes for persons with hearing impairment. This will be done through the provision of captioning and Indian Sign Language.

Shri Javadekar announced that all news channels will carry a news bulletin with sign language interpretation at least once per day and all TV channels and service providers will run at least one program per week with subtitles / captioning.

Live news, live and deferred live content/events such as sports, live music shows, award shows, live reality shows, live debates, scripted/ unscripted reality shows, etc. and advertisements/ teleshopping content have however been exempted.

This will be implemented on 16th September 2019. The overall implementation of the Standards will be done in a phase-wise manner in the next five years. The policy will be reviewed after two years.

Shri Javadekar also announced that Accessibility Standards for films for visually impaired through provision of narration facility in between dialogues are also under examination.

(With Inputs from PIB)