Today, RNID, the largest charity representing the 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK, published its formal response to Ofcom's consultation on the Digital Dividend.
Because of digital switchover, the migration from analogue to digital television in the UK, a large amount of radio spectrum in the highly usable UHF range is being released. This cleared spectrum - referred to as the Digital Dividend - offers real opportunities for new and improved wireless services, including opportunities to level the playing field for disabled people by using some of it to deliver more specialised services like subtitling, audio description, signing and clean audio.
In its response, RNID welcomes the Ofcom proposal that Channel 69 should continue to be reserved for community applications such as wireless microphones, which are often used as input sources for induction loops. Channel 69 must not be assigned to other uses as this could cause serious problems for hearing aid wearers all over the UK and the economic cost of replacing this equipment would likely be prohibitive in many cases, leading to a significant reduction of access through provision of induction loops in a wide variety of situations and circumstances.
However, RNID are very concerned about many other aspects of the Digital Dividend review paper, notably the fact that Ofcom's current proposals do not allocate spectrum to increase the provision of access services such as subtitling, audio description, closed signing and clean audio.
RNID also disagrees with Ofcom that no spectrum should be reserved for terrestrial High Definition TV purposes. High Definition is already happening and if no spectrum is set aside for it, society will be divided in two classes of television viewers: on the one hand people that can afford HDTV via cable or satellite versus, on the other hand, terrestrial viewers that are limited to watching television in standard definition.
Finally, the auction model proposed by Ofcom will not ensure full inclusion and accessibility. Deaf and hard of hearing people, as well as disabled people in general, have as much right to benefit from the release of this spectrum as any other stakeholders.
You can read RNID's full response by clicking on the following link: RNID response to Ofcom's consultation: "Digital Dividend Review", dated 19 December 2006. (Acrobat 8 PDF format 42KB).