§ Miss KirkbrideTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps the Government are taking to encourage an increase in the provision of subtitling on television. [145580]
§ Estelle MorrisThe Communications Act 2003 has strengthened the requirements for subtitling on television. The Act sets subtitling targets of 90 per cent. of programmes on Channels 3 and 4, and 80 per cent. of programmes on all other channels, by the tenth anniversary of the start of the service. The Act also introduces a fixed, five-year interim target of 60 per cent. for subtitling, to accelerate progress during the early years. Under the Act, these requirements have been extended to digital cable and satellite broadcasters for the first time.