Making sure television is accessible to older people and people with disabilities

Eircom, Magnet and RTÉ to introduce Internet-based TV

Friday, 14 November 2008 12:07

In addition to cable, satellite and the soon to be launched digital terrestrial television, a new technology is set to take a slice of the market – IPTV, which means TV over the internet. Companies like eircom and Magnet which have not previously operated in television are now planning to provide IPTV services alongside the traditional providers such as RTÉ. To make these new choices available to older people and people with disabilities it will be essential to ensure that the delivery channels and consumer equipment are fully accessible.

Although sufficient bandwidth for high quality IPTV is not yet available to many people in Ireland, this will soon change. Broadband providers like eircom and Magnet plan to exploit this opportunity. Magnet is launching MagnetInfinityTV, a free online TV channel for the youth market, containing music, movie news and reviews. It will be available from 19th November on the Internet at www.mitv.ie and also over Magnet's fibre-optic network, where it can be watched on a normal television set. Eircom has hired one of the UK's leading broadband strategists, Richard Griffiths, as its new Director of TV and Entertainment Services to look at how they can best deliver TV services over the internet. To avoid being left behind and losing control over distribution of their programmes, RTÉ also have plans to deliver programmes online through an equivalent of the BBC's iPlayer.

For companies entering the IPTV business, decisions will need to be made on which technologies to use, what equipment viewers will need and how it will be set up in the home. All of these will impact on accessibility, so the TV Access coalition is watching this space with interest and will be looking to advise these companies on accessibility issues.