Ofcom ‘enforcement’ against Channel 4 could happen ‘in 2022’ if subtitles quota not met, regulator says

Ofcom has revealed that it could take “enforcement activity” against Channel 4 “as soon as possible in 2022” if the channel has failed to meet its subtitling quota – after an outage at their access services provider led to Deaf viewers experiencing weeks of inaccessible content.

The comments were shared by the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) on Twitter on Friday, after its director of policy and campaigns Mike Hobday wrote to the regulator on 22 October criticising “unacceptable” and “persistent” issues.

“It is already some 25 days since the index incident and we are fast approaching 1 November 2021, the date marking 37 days of no, or very little, subtitling being available.

“Broadly speaking, this would mean subtitling provision had been absent from Channel 4 for 10% of the year,” he said, adding that the percentage estimate would mean that the broadcaster is in breach of requirements set out in the Communications Act 2003.

Subtitling update: Great to see subtitles largely restored on @Channel4. Ofcom has committed to speeding up the reporting process. “If there are shortfalls in meeting annual quotas…enforcement activity can take place as soon as possible in 2022.” Good to see a strong response! pic.twitter.com/qN5AEQPeIQ

— NDCS (@NDCS_UK) October 29, 2021

Channel 4 released a statement the same day saying that subtitles were now available for Sky, Virgin Media and Freeview viewers – as well as those accessing programmes online All4 and Channel4.com.

“We have done this by changing the way our channels are broadcast – linking up our emergency back-up to Arqiva’s equipment in Broadcast Centre.”

“Subtitles, unfortunately, remain unavailable for Freesat viewers at the moment because we distribute content to that platform in a different way that is not resolved by this change. However, we remain committed to restoring this service as quickly as possible.

“Audio description and sign-language services will remain unavailable until we move to the new system that is being built and tested,” they said.

However, in response to NDCS’ letter, Kevin Bakhurst – director of Ofcom’s broadcasting and online content group – said that although the latest update from Channel 4 is a “positive step”, there remains “significant work” for the broadcaster when it comes to restoring access services across all platforms.

“Having spoken with the relevant Channel 4 staff and heard the extent of the equipment failures that have occurred, we believe that the only way forward is for Channel 4 to rebuild and replace the faulty equipment as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, this represents a significant technical chalienge and will take some time.

“We will continue to hold Channel 4 to account as it works to fully restore these vital services as quickly as possible,” he writes.

Mr Bakhurst also went on to add that while subtitles are now broadcast on “many programmes”, Ofcom remains “deeply concerned about the scale” of Channel 4’s technical failures, as well as the time taken to rectify them.

He continued: “Clearly, both our priority, and Channel 4’s is, and should be, the swift and full restoration of subtitling and other access services. However, when this is done, we will review the equipment and facilities that Channel 4 had and now have in place so that lessons can be learnt from this unacceptable outage and steps will be taken to ensure it cannot and will not happen again.

“We have also been clear with Channel 4 that we intend to expedite our usual access services reporting timescales so that if there are shortfalls in meeting annual quotas, any appropriate enforcement activity can take place as soon as possible in 2022.”

NDCS have since praised Ofcom’s reply to their letter, writing on Twitter that it was “good to see a strong response” from the regulator.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.