BARRIER-FREE DIGITAL TELEVISION
Thursday 28 October, 2010, European Parliament (A5G-2)

09.00 – 09.30 WELCOME

1.    Welcome by hosting MEPs (Ms Adriana Ticau, S&D; Dr Adam Kosa, EPP)
2.    European Commission setting the context: Accessibility of Digital Television in the e-Inclusion context (Paul Timmers, Head of Unit, ICT for Inclusion, DG Information Society and Media)

09.30 – 10.15 ROADMAPS, RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND CURRENT BARRIERS

1.    Possible short and long-term roadmaps for the roll out of access services in Digital TV across Europe (Takebumi Itagaki, Brunel University, DTV4All Project)
2.    Recent developments of access services in a wider eInclusion context. Focus on Denmark – (Peter Looms, Danmarks Radio, DTV4All Project)
3.    The user perspective (Mark Magennis, National Council for the Blind of Ireland on behalf of European Disability Forum)

10.15 – 10.45 MANUFACTURER AND BROADCASTER SUPPORT
1.    Steps consumer electronics manufacturers have taken and are taking to support the roll out of access services (Frank Kamperman, Philips on behalf of DIGITALEUROPE)
2.    How the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) can provide support to its member in rolling out access services (Edgar Wilson, European Broadcasting Union)

10.45 – 11.30 Demo

Currently Deployed Services
•    BBC access services - Audio Description, Subtitles (Red Bee Media and Brunel University, DTV4All Project)
Near Future Services
•    Video signing service over the Internet (Brunel University, DTV4All Project)
•    Integrated Digital TV with Text-to-Speech Engine (Philips on behalf of Digital Europe)

11.30 – 11.50 SOLUTIONS TO REALISE BARRIER-FREE DIGITAL TELEVISION
1.    How subtitles for Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) should look like? How text service can be made barrier-free on Hybrid Broadcast Broadband Television (HbbTV)? (Bettina Heidkamp, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, DTV4All Project)
2.    Optimising subtitle reception: subtitles for all.  Large scale user evaluation of subtitles in seven European countries (Pablo Romero, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, DTV4All Project)

11.50 12.00 Wider context of Media and ICT
   
STOA Projects (Miklós Györffi, European Parliament, DG Internal Policies of the Union, Directorate E : Legislative Coordination and Conciliations, Science and Technology Options Assessment - STOA)


12.00 CONCLUDING REMARKS

Summary by hosting MEPs and the European Commission

12.15 CLOSE

sound recorded at the workshop (in mp3 format, 48 Mb)