Channel 4 subtitles failure – Ida's story
Published Date: 15 Nov 2021
Deaf young person Ida (16), explains how the lack of subtitles – and lack of urgency on behalf of Channel 4 – affected her.
After a technical fault on 25 September 2021, Channel 4 lost its ability to subtitle its shows. Channel 4 then said that subtitles, audio descriptions and signed broadcasts were likely to remain unavailable to viewers until mid-November.
Other broadcasters including Channel 5 and the BBC were also affected but were able to resume a near-normal service much sooner.
"Growing up I always watched TV on catch up, often on BBC iPlayer because that was the way I could access the most accurate subtitles. Going to the cinema was rarely enjoyable due to the lack of subtitled screenings in my town, and the screenings that were available were shown at inconvenient times, eg when I’d be at school, or at 9pm on a Wednesday evening. So, subtitles on live TV were a game changer, it felt comforting to see them on TV at the doctors or at a restaurant and to be able to access them at home too.
The failure with the Channel 4 subtitles was a big step back. The fact that this issue persisted for so many weeks was appalling and disappointing. It felt like it wasn’t a priority and that they didn’t really care.
Access to the media and news is one of the most important things in today’s society. Especially with the internet and live news, headlines are released within minutes of an event. The subtitles failure removed this immediate access to news and information for thousands of deaf people, and continues to do so to some extent.
The technology is there to improve and maintain accurate subtitles on TV, companies just need to make accessibility their priority instead of just ticking the box."
At the time of writing Channel 4 was able to provide subtitles again on its main channels for viewers on Sky, Virgin Media and Freeview, as well as on All 4 and Channel4.com. However, subtitles were still unavailable for Freesat viewers. All audio description and sign-language services were also unavailable, and won’t resume until Channel 4 are able to move to a new system.