Widest Possible Audience: NBC Sports Enhances Olympic, Paralymics Accessibility
Monday, January 31, 2022 at 09:02PM NYSJ Sports-Entertainment Business News Service
January 31, 2022: NBCUniversal said today its coverage of both the Beijing Winter Games and Paralympics would be “more accessible to viewers of all abilities than ever” through closed captioning, audio description and digital content accessibility.
NBCU plans to present a Winter Olympics-record 2,800+ hours of coverage across NBC, Peacock, USA Network, CNBC, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app Feb. 2-20, with the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 4.
NBCUniversal said it would present more than 230 hours of Beijing Paralympic Winter Games programming, including a record 120 hours of TV coverage and the first prime time coverage on NBC — scheduled for March 4-13 — also across NBC, Peacock, USA Network, Olympic Channel, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app.
“The Olympic and Paralympic Games are an opportunity for us all to be inspired by the extraordinary achievements of the world’s best athletes,” Tom Wlodkowski, vp-accessibility at NBCU parent company Comcast, said via the company.
“It is an honor to partner with our colleagues at NBC Olympics to deliver our most inclusive Olympic and Paralympic viewing experience ever, and to share those stories of resilience and sportsmanship with the widest possible audience.”
In addition to providing closed captioning for all Olympic and Paralympic events airing across NBCU’s broadcast and cable networks, NBC Olympics will provide closed captioning for all digital live-streams — which was made available in full for the first time during last summer’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
Closed captioning provides text of the coverage audio for viewers who are Deaf or hard of hearing.
Audio description services, in which broadcast audio is interspersed with skilled voices describing Olympic and Paralympic scenes and context, will be available for viewers who are blind or visually impaired.
For the Olympic Winter Games, all competitions aired during prime time hours and Prime Plus, along with the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, will include live audio description on the Secondary Audio Program channel, provided by Descriptive Video Works.
For the Paralympic Games, NBC Sports said it would provide live audio description for all broadcast programming, including those aired outside primetime hours, as well as on all simulstreams.
Viewers can use #NBCOlympicsA11y and #NBCParalympicsA11y on social media to share with others or provide feedback on closed-captioning or audio description to NBCUniversal.
In addition, NBCU said improved Web content accessibility, including keyboard navigation, color contrast and support for screen readers, would be available on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app.
“Ensuring that the Olympic and Paralympic Games are available to be enjoyed by the widest possible U.S. audience is core to our mission,” Gary Zenkel, president, NBC Olympics, said via the network.
“For our coverage of the Beijing Games, providing an unprecedented number of hours of accessibility for a Winter Olympics is another important step in accomplishing that goal.”
Ambitious, Inclusive Achievement: NBCU Details Record Paralympics Coverage
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