topic Re: How can we make a difference? in Sky Accessibility

How can we make a difference?

StaceD — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 11:10:11 GMT

Hi everyone, I look after our Accessility teams and I've been doing some listening groups with our staff recently about some of the key themes that are frustrations and challenges. It would be remiss of me not to ask our wonderful customers the same question.... so, what are the 1 or 2 things that we could do that would make your expereince of Sky better? I'd love to know your thoughts.

Going forward, I'll make some time each week to come and say hello here and seek your input. Thanks for reading

Re: How can we make a difference?

MoreTeeVicar — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 22:31:36 GMT

Hi StaceD

My mother, who has dementia, was able to use the Sky HD+ remote control to call up the TV Guide (the fact that the remote had a button labled TV Guide was helpful) and she could read the simple layout to choose a programme she wanted to watch.

Now she has Sky Q, and finds it almost impossible to navigate the new UI, it is not intuitive. If it was , I wouldn't find my Mum randomly pressing buttons to get what she wants!

Why don't you offer a customer setting

The default setting is the new Sky Q UI, but also give your customers the choice of swithching back to the simpler Sky HD+ UI.

You wouldn't be depriving any customers who like the new UI, but those who prefer a simple UI would welcome the option.

Also, Why have you done away with a one press button to bring up the TV Guide.

There are lots of unused buttons on the remote (green/yellow/blue) how about making one of these jump straight to the TV-Guide.

Re: How can we make a difference?

StaceD — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 08:28:44 GMT

Thank you @MoreTeeVicar this is really insightful. Let me chat to the product team to understand what's available.

Re: How can we make a difference?

TimmyBGood — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 13:24:54 GMT

@StaceD

In our household it's the persistent absence of subtitles on UHD content which is the biggest gripe: with a daughter hearing-impaired from birth and now in her late teens, this means that family viewing is HD-only despite having had UHD since Sky released it for Q (and also now missing out on the option for HDR content too, as that's all in UHD). Having no subtitles available on a lot of HD on-demand content is an issue too.

Re: How can we make a difference?

SDR — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 13:46:05 GMT

@TimmyBGood wrote:

@StaceD

In our household it's the persistent absence of subtitles on UHD content which is the biggest gripe: with a daughter hearing-impaired from birth and now in her late teens, this means that family viewing is HD-only despite having had UHD since Sky released it for Q (and also now missing out on the option for HDR content too, as that's all in UHD). Having no subtitles available on a lot of HD on-demand content is an issue too.

100% agree on this not getting value out of it as a result.

Re: How can we make a difference?

StaceD — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 14:06:02 GMT

@SDR @TimmyBGood thak you for telling me about this. It's one that we're investigating how we can get more and better quality subtitling across a range of channels and quality formats. Are there any particular channels or programmes that cause the most frustration?

Re: How can we make a difference?

TimmyBGood — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 14:09:23 GMT

@StaceD wrote:

Are there any particular channels or programmes that cause the most frustration?

Sky Cinema would be the main one, particularly for Premieres.

Re: How can we make a difference?

StaceD — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 14:10:56 GMT

@TimmyBGood thanks for the info. We're using all the feedback herre to talk to both our product development teams and the design areas. It's really helping us to prioritise and be specific in our asks.

Re: How can we make a difference?

Laing1 — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 17:42:26 GMT

@StaceD hiya I see in the forums all the time customers asking about the accessibility remote and I do recommend customers look into this and contact the team for one but a suggestion I have would be to have the accessibility remote with voice control. Giving customers the best of both worlds a remote with bigger buttons easier to hold but also with voice control 😁😁😁

Re: How can we make a difference?

MoreTeeVicar — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 22:15:30 GMT

Sadly voice control for an 80+ year old with dementia is not an alternative.

My Mum recognises the Sky remote control and wants to operate it in the way that she has done so for about the last 10+ years.

Unfortunately the Sky product developers who impose change on people do not realise that for some customers, change is not just undesirable, it can mean that difference between being able to use something and not being able to use it at all.

Re: How can we make a difference?

prescol — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 23:05:28 GMT

Being visually impaired one very useful feature would be text to speech on the TV Guide.

Or being able to make the text larger within the sky Q Interface.

A wishful feature would be, being able to change the colour of the sky Q interface, with pre-loaded text and background colours. For example yellow Text on a black background.

finally finally the audible app been able to access it on the sky Q.. when you don't want to watch TV but listen to a book.
well we can always wish

Re: How can we make a difference?

StaceD — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 11:43:26 GMT

@Laing1 that's great feedback thanks. We're talking to our product teams next week and feeding all this in, so good to know that some of our Accessibility customers prefer voice services.

Re: How can we make a difference?

StaceD — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 11:57:15 GMT

@prescol these are briliant suggestions. The text size we already have on our wish list, but the selectable colours are new to me. We are exploring text to speech as we speak, so we'll let you know more as soon as we do.

Got to keep wishing 🙂 thanks for the feedback. I'm loving audible on my phone at the moment, so I can see how that would be a good addition too.

Re: How can we make a difference?

philip+nedging — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 09:43:09 GMT

get a system that allows people to speak to an adviser, show a number to ring, failing that cease trading

Re: How can we make a difference?

StaceD — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 09:47:06 GMT

Hi @philip+nedging I'm so sorry that you feel like we've been hard to get in touch with. If you're a registered Accessibility customer you can find our telephone number here and get through to one our advisors. The page also tells you when we are busier/quieter. If that's not right for you, there is also a messaging service, live sign or email.

Re: How can we make a difference?

milespower — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 14:53:28 GMT

Add compatibility with alexa devices like voice control and possibly even access hive security cameras through the Sky Q box.

With an ever changing technological world where homes are becoming smart homes i believe that one of the UKs leading suppliers of Audio-visual services should be following the changing world not behind it

Re: How can we make a difference?

StaceD — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 10:51:37 GMT

Thanks @milespower great suggestion.

Re: How can we make a difference?

Rog+llanon — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 14:03:58 GMT

For people with impaired vision the font size on guides etc is far too small. Is it possible for you to give an up date to provide the facility to increase the font size as was the case with Sky plus.

I am sure many viewers would find this helpful.

Re: How can we make a difference?

StaceD — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 08:52:04 GMT

Hi @Rog+llanon this one is definitely on the list, but I haven't got a confirmed date as yet. I'll keep you posted on our progress though 🙂

Re: How can we make a difference?

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 07:24:21 GMT

Hi @StaceD. Great idea for a thread and I hope the comments on here go towards improving the system for those with accessability issues and disabilities.

Personally speaking, I think the remote and UI for Sky Q are the biggest problems that should be addressed first.

The accessibility remote looks like the old Sky remote, but doesn't function like it, which is really confusing. The button you used to press for TV guide doesn't do that any more. The button that used to be back-up is now the home button, so pressing it expecting to go back one step takes you out of everything. The back button takes you out of the menu completely instead of going back one step (when you remember that's the new version of the "back" button). The left arrow button is what has to be pressed to go back one step in the menu. The right arrow button is now the last channel button, despite right being instinctively associated with going forward, not back. The accessibility remote should not look like a Sky HD remote but not function like it. It should have loked like the new Q remote only bigger, with a grippable back and larger buttons. As is, it's a combination of both and its confusing.

As for the UI, you have to press home > down > ok > ok (or home > down > right > right) just to get into the TV guide to start navigating it. I can't believe that was signed off on as the best method for customers. The main feature of the Sky guide should be a one button access to the TV listings first and foremost, it's the main thing people use Sky for, so why it takes 4 button presses to get into the TV guide is so strange and counterintuitive. There should be a TV Guide button and pressing it loads the guide instantly with BBC ONE (or the channel you are currently watching) highlighted and ready to be interacted with, not something you have to then go into further just to see whats on.

The UI of Sky Q probably won awards for it's refreshing changes, but I think it's a step way too far for disabled customers from what they were used to previously and it has caused problems. I know my mother hates using it as she finds it too overwhelming and coupled with the accessibility remote and other UI changes, I (more often than not) am asked to do things on Sky for her because it confuses her and she loses patience with it.

I would say the biggest benefit you could do would be to release an updated accessibility remote that looks like the Sky Q remote but with one button access to the TV guide and to have voice control, so those that are finding the UI too much can still just lift the remote and tell it to tune in to the chanel required to make navigating the system a lot easier and less hassle for them. As is, it's just a mash-up of several things and sadly doesn't do the job it should.