The accessibility type in the Election programming is set to be historical, in fact a TV and streami

[RileyBSL]

We are in for a historical General Election, and there’s something extra special this year, especially for our Deaf and hard of hearing community—so take note of this because we will NEED it. For the first time, both 4seven and the BBC News Channel will provide live BSL (British Sign Language) and subtitles throughout their election night coverage! 🙌 Let’s break down what each channel is offering:

4seven is making history as the first channel to offer LIVE BSL and subtitles for an all-night UK General Election coverage. Their programme, titled 'Britain Decides with The Rest is Politics and Gogglebox (Signed)', will run from 9:45pm tomorrow to 9am Friday (whole duration: 11 hours, 15 minutes).

You can tune in on:

• Sky channel: 137 on SkyQ/Sky+HD
• Plus, you can stream it for FREE on the Channel 4 app/website! (Take that, BBC, by ten minutes! 😉)

BBC News Channel: Extensive BSL and Subtitles Coverage The BBC News Channel will also provide BSL and subtitles during the following timeslots:

Overnight:

• 4th July at 9:55pm – Friday at 2am and 2am – 6am

Daytime- Friday 5th July 2024:

• 6am – 8am
• 8am – 1pm
• 1pm-1:55pm (including the BBC News At One)
• 1:55pm – 4:30pm (originally 3:45pm).

Also available on BBC iPlayer for free!

For Red Bee Media: that is 29 hrs 50 minutes of LIVE signing and subtitles from 2 channels combined! Friendly competition aside, the real win is of course that the UK's #deaf #BSL viewers will also for the first time have a choice of signed overnight election coverage - including them in the constituency counts, expert analysis and unfolding drama. A brilliant first, and an important step in ensuring the political process is available to these audiences.

Unlike ITV, Sky News, and GB News, which won't have BSL Interpretation to the LIVE election results and only LIVE subtitles, it will be BBC and Channel 4 which will hopefully set a benchmark to more inclusive Election coverage in the future. Whilst there is more work to be done, we must applaud the BBC and Channel 4 for their efforts to make this election accessible and more used within the #DEAF #BSL users.