Thomas Owens

Digital TV accessibility — Analogue switch off in Europe and Africa

17 June 2015 was the deadline for the switchover from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTV) in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. The DTV4ALL Project was a project funded by the European Commission under the CIP ICT Policy Support Programme to facilitate the provision of access services on digital television across the European Union; The call for proposals under which the project was funded was issued in response to the switch-off of analogue terrestrial television service in Europe being set to begin in 2012. The motivation for the call was to ensure the switchover would take place in such a way as to be favourable to the provision of access services. This paper summarises the main lessons learned from the DTV4ALL Project in terms of the provision of access services on DTV and highlights their possible application in Africa for the purposes of fostering e-inclusion and e-accessibility through digital TV.