You put great effort into producing engaging content, whether it's a film, event, TV series, training video, or social media video that connects people with your brand and naturally you want the whole world to enjoy it. But with an estimated 37 million North Americans experiencing some degree of vision loss, there are a lot of people who aren't able to fully experience the joy and impact of your visual content.

ScribeWire can help you with that.

ScribeWire, formerly known as CCS, is a leading provider of inclusive and accessible media in North America. We can help you unlock inclusive content experiences and broaden your content’s reach with our specialized described video service.

We are committed to creating content for the visually impaired. We provide audio description and described video services for film, events, entertainment, and episodic series with exceptional quality and cost-effective prices. 

Described video is a type of narration that allows blind and partially sighted audiences to form a mental picture of a video or TV show. Narrative snippets are added between the natural dialogue to describe environmental sounds, physical actions, facial expressions, clothing, and more to improve comprehension.

You may have heard people referring to described video as audio descriptions. In the US, described video is called audio description, however, in Canada, there's a subtle difference between the two. With audio descriptions, a host or announcer reads on-screen text and describes graphics, while described video involves narration between the dialogue. Nevertheless, the terms refer to the audio description of visual elements. 

At ScribeWire, we can offer you both described video and audio description services for both your Canadian or American audience members in English, French or Spanish.

There are several key benefits of having descriptive audio in your visual media, from accessibility to engagement, and better learning to independence. 

Accessibility

The main purpose of descriptive video is to make your video content more accessible to people who are blind or who have low vision. It ensures that they can fully understand and enjoy your content by providing audio descriptions of visual elements, actions, and settings.

Inclusive Content

Described video helps to create more inclusive and diverse content. By making your videos accessible to a wider audience, you can ensure that people with a visual impairment can participate and share in the experience that your content creates.

Enhanced Learning Experience

Described video can be particularly beneficial in educational content, such as training videos, allowing visually impaired students to have a more comprehensive understanding of visual elements presented in videos. This inclusivity helps to create a level playing field in educational environments.

Improved Engagement

For visually impaired individuals, described video and audio description enhances engagement with various forms of entertainment, such as movies, TV shows, and online videos. This, in turn, can lead to increased viewership and broader audience appeal.

Better Social Integration

Described video enables individuals with visual impairments to participate in conversations and social interactions related to video content. They can discuss and share experiences with others who have watched the same content.

Empowerment and Independence

By adding described video to your visual content, you foster a sense of empowerment and independence among those with visual impairments. It allows them to choose and consume content on their terms, without relying heavily on others to interpret visual information for them.

Make Your Video Content Compliant

In the United States, legal requirements for audio description are primarily governed by the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA). The CVAA mandates the provision of audio description for television programming and is enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

In Canada, and Ontario in particular, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) have established requirements to ensure that video content is accessible to all Canadians. For nearly 30 years, ScribeWire has helped businesses become and stay compliant with all the relevant laws and regulations.

By working with the blind and partially sighted community we are able to provide above-average products that adhere to strict described video standards in North America and abroad. 

US and Canadian Regulations

The Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) requires that ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC television affiliates in the top sixty markets of the US provide fifty hours of described prime time and/or children's programming per quarter. In fact, regulators have begun the process of increasing this to nearly 82 hours of descriptive primetime or children’s programming per quarter.

In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requires broadcasters to include a minimum of 4 hours of described video content per day, and while not a regulatory requirement for online video, many streaming services are demanding producers to include descriptive video in the content they produce for these services.

Online Content

People watch more videos online than you think. It is estimated that an astronomical 1 billion hours of video is watched on YouTube each day. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 specifies how to make Web content more accessible to people with disabilities and section 1.2.5 of its success criteria provides guidelines on how to make online videos more accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired access to the visual information in a synchronized media presentation. 

ScribeWire's descriptive video service helps to ensure that your video content is compliant with all the relevant laws, regulations, and audio description requirements, but it goes beyond that. 

Our audio description services focus on the nuances of each program, ensuring that the essence of every dialogue and sound is captured, and that placement is carefully chosen, thereby enhancing the overall media consumption experience.

ScribeWire provides an industry-leading audio and video description service that can easily be integrated with other media accessibility services like translation, subtitling, closed captioning, and transcription to create truly engaging content that is accessible to everyone regardless of ability. 

Making media accessible is what we do. Contact us directly for further information or to request a quotation for our world-class video and audio description service today!