[NFBF-Tampa] Fw: your phone call

Mon May 7 19:40:01 UTC 2018

Hello all;

I am sending this email conversation I have established with Spectrum to make all of you aware of the progress that Spectrum  is making to solve the issues of audio description on television.
It appears that Spectrum is listening but I think they would move faster is more of the blind/visually-impaired would contact Spectrum and let them know that there are many more of us that want these services.

Just saying...

IF YOU KEEP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING 
YOU WILL KEEP GETTING WHAT YOU ARE GETTING

Jimmy

From: Sweet, John J 
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2018 12:28 PM
To: Jim Lovell 
Cc: Kaur, Gurpreet ; Haas, Joey 
Subject: Re: your phone call

Hey Mr. Lovell,

This would probably be easiest on the phone; I actually have an hour free at 11am MST, 1pm EST. Let me know if you’d like to talk then.

Joey Haas and I are both relieved that the easy access 2-button approach to enabling SAP on your cable box is rolling out soon. You’re right, it’s going to make a huge difference to a lot of people.

Let me do my best to answer your questions about the Roku right now. If you tune to a network that is offering SAP at your current time (can use the ACB’s Audio Description Project to see what’s on with SAP) and adjust the audio stream to Spanish, you will get SAP. As a side note, if you tune to a different channel, you will need to turn SAP on again—this is a Roku-based problem that they have said they will fix by Fall 2018. If you would like instructions for enabling SAP, please let me know.

The voice activated remotes would be a huge boon, I agree; on a daily basis, I keep up with trends in voice activation technology, because it makes available huge benefits for users with visually impairments. Out of the box, the Roku voice remote is great for searching for content from the main menu on the Roku. For instance, “Open Netflix” or “Watch Stranger Things on Netflix” are cool alternatives from all the keypresses to accomplish this without a remote. Unfortunately, programming the Roku voice remote to work within an app is a different story. Right now, we are not at a point where this technology can work within our Spectrum TV App. However, Spectrum Guide on our cable boxes, which is currently being rolled out throughout the country, will come with a voice-activated remote; I can keep you updated on the status of this rollout as it progresses.

You’re right, our on demand shows do not offer SAP on any platform. This is something we’re working on remedying; it involves conversations with the broadcasters themselves. I can also keep you apprised of improvements made here.

Thanks for your input. Best,

John Sweet | Manager of Accessibility
Desk: 720.536.9332 | Mobile: 425.941.8309

From: Jim Lovell <jdolphin at tampabay.rr.com>
Date: Monday, May 7, 2018 at 8:07 AM
To: John Sweet <john.sweet at charter.com>
Subject: your phone call

Hello Mr. Sweet;

Thank you for your phone calls last week.  My wife and I were out of the country and were not able to receive/return phone calls.

In response to your calls...
I was informed via a phone call from Joe at Spectrum’s Corporate Escalations on May 1 at 9:38, that the steps to enable SAP would reduce from 10 steps to 2 steps and would “roll out” at the end of July 2018.
The 2 steps to enable SAP will be a great help to those of us who are blind/visually-impaired, especially during the “hurricane season” when we need to be aware of the weather alerts scrolling across the television screen.

To update you on the Roku...
I still cannot enable SAP on the Roku except on TNT, (channel 33), and that really confuses me!

Also with the Roku, we, the blind/visually-impaired, have not received the remotes that are voice activated which have been in existance since 2015...why is that?
I was informed by Mr. Hasselburger that he would look into that and determine why spectrum has not furnished the blind/visually-impaired customers with voice activated remotes for Roku.
I have not received any contact from Mr. Hasselburger in a few months.

The final issue...
we still are not able to enable audio description for on demand shows, nor are we able to enable SAP on the Spectrum app although the deaf/hearing-impaired are able to enable closed caption on the Spectrum app...why is SAP not available on the Spectrum app?

Jimmy Lovell
13251 Royal George Ave 
Odessa, Florida  33556
(813) 792-8366

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