[blindkid] PBS Station Frustration

Richard Holloway rholloway at gopbc.org
Fri Jun 17 07:56:07 UTC 2011


Could anyone who is finding DVS (audio described) programming on their local PBS affiliate please email me (on or off list) and help me determine at least what PBS affiliates / cities are actually broadcasting with DVS? (Or if you are trying but can't find it on your local affiliate that would be good to know as well.)

I finally got an answer about the "technical problems" with DVS in Georgia from PBS. I learned today that Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) simply turned off their DVS feeds for programming a while back. According to the General Manager of GPB,  they "ran into a significant amount of confusion among viewers who received it, didn’t want it, and didn’t know how to turn it off..." so they "...eventually abandoned the practice of delivering DVS."

I'd really like to get a sense of whether this something that happened mainly here in Georgia or of this is more widespread. I find it pretty frustrating that their main concern is apparently the time and effort spent by their engineers telling people who don't want DVS how to turn it off. 

I am told they may look back into offering this again now that the delivery is different (over digital TV), but first they need to determine "...what the likely impact would be for viewers who don’t want it." Sounds like they got very little response from people who wanted DVS when they turned it off, but I think that is probably because so few potential users were even aware the service had been offered.

Your feedback here on the list or directly would be really appreciated. I would very much like to get DVS running here in Georgia on PBS again and if this problem is widespread, to start addressing this on more of a national level. As much as my daughter appreciated the DVS programs, I can't imagine there would not me a lot more kids and adults who would benefit from increased numbers of shows being broadcast with audio descriptions...

Thanks,

Richard
rholloway at gopbc.org


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