Posted on October 19, 2020 in ATSC News
Presenters at the virtual SCTE-ISBE Cable-Tec Expo 2020 on Oct. 14 examined a pair of ATSC 3.0-related issues of importance to cable operators, including the technical considerations of transitioning headend operations as broadcasters begin to take on NextGen TV and the opportunities the new broadcast standard offers to deliver enhanced TV viewing experiences to audience members with visual disabilities.
During the “Developments in HDR, IP Video Workflows and ATSC 3.0 Audio Accessibility” session, Mark Francisco, Comcast technology fellow, set the stage for his discussion of descriptive audio by explaining the size of the need and the opportunity to both do good and benefit financially by better serving audience members with disabilities.
When considering the size of the audience with disabilities, 20% of Caucasians have disabilities, 25% of Blacks and 33% of American Indian and Alaskan Native, said Francisco, making the point that the audience is large and diverse. On the economic side of the equation, a third of U.S. households have a disability. Those households command $220 billion, he added.
Posted in ATSC News
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