The nonsense of trying to access live TV with audio description in the UK...

Well, there's bbc IPlayer, it has an audio described section, it's free.

There's the vergin tv app that is a bit clunky but does have some audio described stuff.

That's all I can think of for now.

There was an IPlayer thing made by the RNIB once, for what it was, it was actually alright, clunky yes but it worked, every channel was spoken and I believe you could turn on and off audio description.

I just mostly use audiovault.net and will probably just use a basic LG TV when I move out.

I have Sky Q and that box is about 90% accessible. Most menus talk. However, 3rd party apps do not have AD on the sky Q box. Apparently, about 2 years ago Sky told me they were hoping to firstly make the parts of the Sky Q box inaccessible work and then get 3rd party apps to also work. Sadly, Sky glass and Sky stream has come along and Sky Q is now probably a dying platform. As you say not great. Would be interested to see if people in other countries like the US do have a complete service. It maybe a worldwide thing.

If I literaly had nothing else to do I would write and maintain an 'Accessible TV and Movie' guide for BVPs in the UK. It is, IMO, that complicated - it would take months to do and ages to keep up to date
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It is great, there is so much choice, but as usual, BVPs can't just live our lives, we have to become Assistive Technology specialist!

For what it is worth, I've given up on live TV. I can't think of anyting I wanted to watch I couldn't - maybe an election debate last week. So that is the good part of inaccessibility there!

If I was bothered, I'd go for EE TV, but I already have everything else they sell I think!

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Research:

After doing some google sleuthing on the interwebs, I found some articles that may be of some interest to you and anyone in the UK area. It is information on certain programs and services that cater to Audio Descriptive content, or at the very least, that is their claim.

Streamers:

Unfortunately if you want any kind of satisfactory television experience, there really is no, universal, way to go. Not yet. There is a combination of streaming services that can give you a bit of what you want, meaning not just audio described content, but live audio described content. Some of these are:
1. Netflix
2. Hulu Plus Live
3. Apple TV Live
4. Disney Plus
5. Prime Video
6. Paramount Plus

Resources:

The following links are what I found in my admittedly brief research. I hope you find it useful.
- BBC.co.uk
GuideDogs.org.uk
BBC.com
Business.Scope.org.uk

**Edit**
I apparently fail at Mark Down. . . 😳

It realy is very complicated. We have BBC 1 with AD, but I think it is BBC 1 London. That might be the HD one or not. It is either 101 on Sky or 901. on Virgin it might be something else.

On the BBC iPlayer, you can watch the latest episode of a show with AD, but not next week#s, even if it is on the iPlayer and available to stream.

Netflix is about the only service that does it properly. For Disney+ I have to look on a US website to get a list of shows with AD.

I can buy a film on Amazon that says it has AD, but then I can't watch it wiht AD. And it goes on like this, on and on.

I just steal AD titles from the Internet now and don't worry about it.

I had to edit my above post multiple times, as I fail at formatting it seems. Anyway, regardless of what you folks may think, it is not much better over here. I pretty much watch new stuff via a certain website that we all know about, but like someone's ugly step cousin, noone will talk about.

Older shows I can sometimes find on Prime Video.

Mostly however, I have lost interest in television. I still enjoy an occasional movie, but would rather read books then watch television. 🤷

I think Hulu Plus Live might be good for you all, and you can watch Hulu on a rediculous amount of devices, including Xbox (Ollie, I'm pointing at you)

if I had a TV. I wonder if the Apple TV works with only a soundbar plugged into it?

I do have a TV, in my dining room, leening up against the wall. I suppose I could see if it still works!

I apparently fail at context. I know you said "Live television". I swear it is in you're original post. I was thinking since both AppleTV (the app/service, not the damned box) has Live television, and Hulu Plus Live has "Live television", and both claim to have AD for their live service, well I thought that while it was not the end all be all solution, it would at least be a start. 🤷🙂

Hi All,
You usually can't watch a complete series or boxset through the iPlayer app with audio description, however you can watch a complete series or boxset through the BBC website on any device. I did this for line of duty a few years ago. The most recent series at the time was the only series available through the iPlayer app, but the rest of it was available audio described through the BBC website. I uninstalled the iPlayer app off my phone and just watched the entire thing through the website. The last series sucked by the way. Ian was so not the head of the operation. Maybe that wasn't the last series by now but, oh well. Sorry but just had to get that out there! ITV only seems to have audio description available on Android and nothing else! I mean what kind of crap is that? They should at least have catch-up on all their apps. Channel five I don't know about, and I know channel four has audio description on their on-demand app. But yes, audio description is extremely fragmented. Glad I hardly ever watch TV because I would constantly be extremely disappointed if I did. There have been a couple of things I've wanted to watch, but it didn't have AD so I thought forget that then.

We discussed most of this before, EE Tv really is your only option at this point, it's the most accessible way of streaming live TV with AD.

The only other potential is, if you've got a Sky dish.

When my Sky contract ended, I binned my old Sky box and put the dual cable from the Sky dish into my Samsung TV.
This allowed me to have Freesat for zero pennies, complete with audio description on the live broadcasts.

The Samsung TV was great with it's spoken navigation and I used it for the live Freesat, changing to my Apple TV box when I wanted to stream Netflix or whatever, due to it's class leading compatibility.

It is awfully complicated, though in saying this I know I run the risk of Ollie's agreeing with me again - a risk he would rather avoid as he has intimated elsewhere. Personally, I find that a combo of skyQ (nbot dead yet), audiovault and iPlayer generally meet my needs, though it is frustrating that you don't get the on demand content audiodescribed. SkyQ will give you audiodescription if you record the live programme to the box, but not if you download it. that's annoying when sighted Mrs Bingo and myself want to watch a box set together.

Which election debate, exactly, was worth watching? I've seen three of the four (I missed the one that wasn't a debate but two separate goings over by the not altogether able beth rigby). They all showcased the talents of party spin doctors, excelling in their mediocrity. election campaigns used to be far more informative without them. bring back the days of 2005 and earlier, I say. Waht a shame there isn't a user called Nick who hasn't already made this point as it would have enabled me to round out my contribution with perhaps the most famous of utterances from our election debates: I agree with Nick.

This is what I use when I feel an itch to watch a film. Netflix, when I want Stand-up comedy or Anime. I know, weird mix, but there ya go.

And Bingo, don't, even, get me started on the rediculousness of political debates. We may be a sea apart, but I bet the idiocrocy is a global epidemic.

Like COVID. . . 😷

Audio Vault is great. I have no guilt whatsover when I use it. I'd be hapy to buy stuff AD, but it is next to impossible.

The BBC drive me mad, they have this amazing A-Z of AD titles on iPlayer, but you can't watch them on it! It is bonkers - switch to Safari on the same iPad, go to iPlayer and you can watch them. But you have to delete iPlayer the app, otherwise it opens that and you get no AD! Roar!

If you go with Sky Stream, be prepared for a frustrating experience with the hardware puck.

You might be okay if you don't need the screen reader, otherwise you're going to end up spending half your life waiting between actions, that's if you can even get the screen reader to work in the first place.
I had to send my first box back as it just wouldn't work with the speech enabled.

It really is the worst piece of technology I've had the displeasure to deal with in my 20 years of sight loss.

As a side note, I've not had any problems with the Now channels through EE TV, they all work fine, with associated AD tracks.

You also get Netflix as part of the package with EE, the same as Sky, but cheaper.

They tried to flog me Sky stream last year when they messed up my SkyQ box by giving me the wrong information. This was something they couldn't fix for weeks and weeks, entirely of their own making. Blimey, am I glad I said I didn't want anything to do with sky stream! When I moved house earlier this year they tried again - if you take Sky stream, sir, you'll not have to wait for the engineer to come over and install your dish...you could have Sky a whole 24 hours before the engineer appointment we've booked for you! again, I resisted. Perhaps that's why, when the engineer did visit, he moaned about the route he would have to take the cables. Can't see why. It was very straightforward, although it took him perhaps 10 minutes longer than it would have done had our roof been at a slightly different angle. what a shame they did not think of such matters when the property was built 70 years ago! Seriously, to be fair to Sky they do at least have some nice folk working in accessibility and they do eventually manage to achieve things. I get the sense that quite often they're met with a degree of resistance. I'm sure Sky Stream will get there, but it seems a long way off at the moment.

I thought it was all wired now. A friend of mine has Q - she says it is the best to. The other one, Glass I think it is called, is not accessible at all.

Q is definitely better than Plus, though Plus did get reasonably accessible in the end. It just took quite some time. there was that interesting situation, between about 2012 and 2018 I think, where if you wanted an accessible Sky Plus experience you were far better off using an app called TV Planner Remote for sky. Given that was put together by a third party developer, it could do a hell of a lot with the sky Plus box. The official app caught up eventually. Q is ahead of where Sky Plus ever was, though as others have said, it won't talk if you're trying to watch Prime, or YOutube or that sort of thing. Mrs Bingo has signed ours into her own accounts as she has her own in-built screen reader - her eyes.

I must admit, I haven't done any digging when it comes to other accessible solutions. This is because I'm well immersed in the sky ecosystem and, broadly speaking, I'm very happy with what it gives me. If I didn't really like sport, I might be looking elsewhere. The upshot is I don't know much about EE Tv and so on. Perhaps it's something about which I should be more curious.

I'm keen to hear how it goes. I didn't bother with EE TV in the end, not enough interest here. But if I could get one thing that did all my TV needs well, I might.

Hi,

I completely understand your frustration. It seems like both sides of the Atlantic are grappling with similar issues when it comes to accessibility and cost for visually impaired individuals.

In the US, the situation isn’t much better. For example, Hulu is somewhat accessible on my Samsung TV—it works, but not perfectly. Hulu originals offer audio description, but the live TV service falls short, with very limited to no audio description options. Plus, everything here is getting expensive as well, adding to the frustration.

We’re all dealing with the same fragmented and inconsistent accessibility features across different platforms. It’s disheartening that we need multiple devices and subscriptions just to get the same access that sighted folks have at a lower cost.

I hope that TV networks and streaming services worldwide will soon prioritize and improve accessibility for us. It’s high time they realize the importance of a consistent and comprehensive screen reader interface, along with ample audio description options.

Cheers,
Roman

Am I right in thinking that Sky Atlantic does include Audio Description at the time of broadcast?

I've been trying to find a way to watch some of the HBO shows on streaming services but as far as I can tell no one has any AD for them. I even tried looking at the Blu rays (remember them?) but I don't think they have AD either. Which is totally nuts considering they bothered to record them for the live broadcasts. I was really hoping to watch House of the Dragon, Succession and the Last of Us. In particular, considering how accessible the last of us games are, it's ridiculous that you can't watch the TV show if you need AD.

I was a Sky subscriber for many years but honestly they aren't a company I would choose to deal with again in a hurry. The only live TV I watch these days is the news in the morning and honestly I suspect my life would be better without that too.

Thanks, Ollie - that sounds like a pain. I use a Fire TV Cube not Apple TV but maybe it's also possible there. I'll have a look sometime and see. I just don't understand why it has to be so hard. I literally want to give them my money. I think it's all very well for older stuff with no AD, but it's literally right there.

I've got to a certain age where I prefer to let a series run its course and then watch it all at the end. That way I have a chance of remembering what has happened from one episode to the other. But I do get your point.

I've noticed an irritating thing on iPlayer. They released the whole series of the Outlaws on iPlayer but are drip-feeding it on the TV weekly. But only the first episode on iPlayer has AD, then they seem to update it each week presumably when the next episode is shown live. And I think I've seen this with other shows so guess it's normal on the BBC. Maybe I can't complain too much as I do get a discounted license but doesn't stop me complaining anyway.

The 'excuse' I heard was that they are literally recording it off the TV to then put it online with AD. Sounds mental I know, but they said it was something to do with them having done it for so long!

Again, sounds mental.

Wow, that is crazy. I never would have thought the BBC would go down that road.

I'm not a huge watcher of tv with AD but that just seams complicated, surely there's an easier way of doing it?

You know, it's odd, blindness tehc and the way blindness stuff is shown to us is quite old, there's this with the BBC, then the talking radios and so on. I know we have AI now and there's tech being invented all the time but I just feel like we're x amount of years behind everyone else for some reason, maybe that's just me.

We've recently had to remove a post containing a link to a website offering unauthorized downloads of TV shows and movies. This serves as a reminder that sharing such links or discussing methods to obtain copyrighted content illegally is strictly against our community guidelines.

While we understand the desire for accessible entertainment, we cannot condone or support piracy in any form. This policy is crucial for our community due to legal implications (as sharing copyrighted material without permission is illegal and could put individuals and AppleVis at risk) and ethical considerations (as a community that advocates for accessibility, we should support content creators and the entertainment industry in their efforts to make media more inclusive).

Instead of seeking unauthorized sources, we encourage our members to:

• Use legal streaming services that offer audio description
• Advocate for better accessibility in mainstream media platforms
• Share information about accessible media options within legal boundaries

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in maintaining a responsible and law-abiding community.

I've paid for this twice now. Both times I wasn't able to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds with AD.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is audio described, in english, in the USA.

I ask you, what's a girl to do?

I did email them, several times - I got some sort of autoresponder rubbish back both times.

Blimey, reading this thread has made me realise how little televisual entertainment, beyond sport, I tend to watch these days! Used to drink it in - Monday nights were emmerdale, Eastenders and a double period of Corrie, for example. I really should watch more on demand stuff like what you fellahs are talking about. I'll be tuned in to Rishi v Keir tonight as they compete to be the weakest of the weak again.

Olly, how's your stream going? Have you received it yet? I'm interested to see how you get on with that. How the devil did you get £22.00 a month for sky, you jammy so-and-so? I sincerely hope your subscription doesn't include the sports channelse. If it does, I'll have something to say about it! I pay a good deal more than that, albeit I do get the sports channels, movie channels and BT Sport on top. Have to have the last of these, being a rugger bugger. I haven't time for all this opening accounts in other countries stuff - I suppose I'm not arsed enough about watching american shows - but I do agree it is frustrating that one has to repeatedly use the tradesman's entrance, so to speak, in order to do something so simple.

blah, how do I delete a comment once made?

Once it's there it's there. You can only edit it.

Now that is interesting. The voice guidance on Q also depends on a broadband connection. I didn't realise this until I moved house and had TV but no broadband for about a week. NO broadband meant no voice guidance. So I'm guessing that even with SkyQ there is at least a partial element of the screen reader that is not done locally. I wonder why it works so well on Q then but not on stream? If you're only getting the basic package that would explain your very low price. I can't leave sky now - I've been sucked in. Plus I just must have the sports channels. stand up, if you love the darts.

Apologies for going slightly off topic here, but I miss Basketball. I have yet to find a good enough descriptive service to enjoy it, and it has been so long since I did enjoy that particular sport that I barely remember anything about it.

About a month ago my Sky Q box changed voice. Nothing I did suddenly changed. So, they must still be doing updates which begs the question why is nothing improving? Still parts of the box are inaccessible. Very frustrating.

I'm really surprised, I would have thought UK would've been on top of things with regards to audio descriptions and such. Granted I am someone on the outside who is looking in, but UK always seems to be right there with the US when it comes to reasonable accommodations for the disabled. 🫤

Wait, HBO Max is coming to the UK? If this has AD I will be extremely happy.

I was a Sky customer for many years but once I stopped being able to see the football I cancelled. I never liked them as a company - the kind that requires you to call up and threaten to quit just to get a good deal.

Steven from Double Tap was talking the other day about how he used to be able to record with Sky and the AD track would be available. Apparently this is no longer the case. So the only way to get AD is to watch live.

Anyway if HBO Max comes here with AD then that's my last interest in using Sky gone. I would have paid for Now TV for a bit to access HBO content.

Honestly, I use audiovault a lot and will keep using them. AD here is hit or miss, I think it's improved slightly but that's about it. Virgin media of all people are actually pretty good, there box has a screen reader built in, I don't know how good it is really as I've only tried it once but as soon as I move out, i'll be going right back to them.

yes they're expencive but I'm with BT at the moment for my grandparents and honestly wish I'd just stuck to virgin, bt is so slow here, i think it's cause our house is old but well, I think I have 60 mb download and 10 upload on a good day, but I'm kind of just making those numbers up but it's around that kind of thing, it's terrible.

Interesting but not very impressive that they have spent all this time and all we get is a weak promise of better things to come. Assuming HBO Max has AD when it launches in the UK and that the app is accessible then any vague interest in anything Sky has to offer will be gone. It does feel like Sky's day is done.

The only thing I wanted to watch on Sky in recent memory that wasn't HBO was a Chris McCausland programme but I forget what it was now.

I think Sky got way too big for its boots so I would be happy to see that particular empire crumble. I was a subscriber for many, many years and they just bump the bill up and up and up and if you want a good deal you have to fight your way through the call centre and then threaten to cancel. I can't be doing with that. I used to love watching the football but it's not much good if you can't see anything.

I just find them an arrogant company who don't; seem to value their existing customers that much. Not that they are unique in that regard I suppose.

Anyway, having said all that and just to immediately contradict myself, if all Sky Originals content had AD on streaming I might be tempted to subscribe for a month or two but not long-term.

HBO Max can't come soon enough though - I'm really quite excited.

Hi everyone. With fire TV sticks, I think lots of blind people benefit from it accessibility, but one thing that really annoys me is the fact that there is no physical button or setting to enable audio description for any third-party app, because in the settings section of the fire TV stick, there is a section in accessibility for audio description and then prime video, but that’s basically it. Especially for ITV and BBC iPlayer where you basically have no way to turn on audio description because I was struggling with that. If Amazon can just add a physical button or a setting in the setting section in team up with some other companies, that would be great. Especially on ITV because you cannot find the setting to enable audio description for when you’re watching live TV. Instead, you have to go on your television that does not even have any screen reader and you have to manually turn it on. It’s a pain.

Although there is no unified way to turn on AD, you can do it for each service. At least, for BBC iPlayer you definitely can. Start watching something, then pause it. If you go up, then move right you should find an option. I can't remember what it is called but it mentions Subtitles at least. Press the enter/select button in the middle of the d-pad and move down. There should be an option to enable AD here if the show supports it. A little while ago they also made this sticky so it should remember the next time.

This was on my Fire Cube but I presume it is the same for the stick.

I don't know about itv though. If not similar to bbc, there might be a list of audio tracks (different languages or whatnot) before you start. At least I think that's how Netflix does it.

I'm not personally that keen on this sort of thing being on the remote. my Freesat remote control has an AD button but I have absolutely no chance of finding it as there are millions of buttons. I like the Fire remote's simplicity. But it would be nice if the system AD option persisted everywhere.

I was having a fight TV stick I also have an Apple TV 4K third generation. What strikes me the most is the fact that act developers do not care about audio descriptions when they care about app design. Yes I know it is time consuming to get a person to describe the audio and I know that you may have to pay for stuff, Booked big companies like BBC and ITV should be able to do this. It doesn’t make sense why they cannot do this.

It’s dictation playing up on my iPhone.

To be fair to the BBC, pretty much everything they do has AD these days as far as I am aware, and it is all available on catch-up. There used to be a problem where the AD AD could take a little while to appear - so if you were watching a show on the date it was broadcast, the AD might not be available on iPlayer for a week. I'm not sure if this is still the case.

I think the quality of the AD isn't as good as some services. Sometimes it can be a bit too sparse. And it's not surround.

A little while ago they released every episode of Dr Who, right down to the old black and white versions. And apparently every episode had AD which was impressive. However, some other older shows wont have it.

I am really looking forward to this.

Am I right in thinking that this is owned by Warner Bros so is part of the Netflix deal if that goes ahead? I hope this doesn't scupper the UK launch.

A really interesting development I saw for the first time last Saturday: ITV had audiodescription for the Six Nations rugby match between England and wales. What's the point of that, you might ask? after all, it's on the radio as well, ain't it? You'd be right, but there are several advantages to having audiodescription on the telly:
1. Mrs Bingo is fully sighted and having this commentary meant I could get the richness of detail I wanted while she could watch it, all without having to go through the sometimes complex business of making sure the TV and radio commentary aligned - you know what I mean, all that pausing and unpausing and 'have they thrown into the line-out on the TV yet?' 'Hang on, you're ahead of me...I didn't know they scored a try there.' if we'd had a gathering of friends aroudn for the Six Nations it would have been great for us to all watch together.
2. It meant that I could avoid all that nonsense on 5 Live where chris posh boy Jones is interrupted for a quick update on Bournemouth v Newcastle or whatever. I mean, bloody hell! I tune into the rugby to listen to the rugby! I can catch up with the football later - even by listening to the whole game if I want to! Does anyone else find that really annoying? Likewise, missing part of the game because the welsh summariser (Rob Jones, was it?) is going on about how sad it will be to lose a Welsh franchise team etc. etc. some very important moments of a game have been missed that way.
3. ITV audiodescription do tend to give you important detail that the radio doesn't. For example, more precise descriptions of infringements at the ruck, more frequently telling viewers where the ball is. In rugby, that's extremely important info which the boys on 5 Live don't give you quite as often as they should.

That leads me nicely on to HBO Max: the big deal for me is they're subsuming TNT Sports. Does anyone know if I can still watch TNT sports on Sky after the changes? I'm hoping so as I have a subscription and don't want to be reduced to watching in the HBO Max app.

That's really interesting. I remember when the Women's Euros were on, because England were doing quite well, we both wanted to watch it. When the BBC were showing a game, we could use the red button to choose Radio 5 Live commentary so I knew what was going on and Mrs Grieves could see it. However, when it came to itv we were stuck. So I'd go into one room and stick it on the Radio and Mrs Grieves would watch it on the TV. In this case, what would happen is I'd hear "YES!!!!!" coming from the next room. Two minutes later, England would score a goal. It was a bit unsatisfactory.

And I could not agree more about the frustrations of 5 live commentaries. I'm a Liverpool fan (something I would have felt happier admitting to last season than this one) and I listen to all the commentaries. And there have often been games where about 10 minutes into the game they still have not referred to what's going on in the actual game they claim to be commentating on. It is unbelievably frustrating. They just assume that because I am listening to one game I am interested in literally every sport going on right now. They have often cut away for a few minutes for coverage of some athletics event going on, all the while I've no idea how the game is going.

It's a shame because I quite like the commentators they gave. When they talk about the game it is pretty good. But because of the interruptions I tend to avoid BBC commentary except as a last resort. Fortunately, Liverpool run their own commentaries for all games. Interesting they always shout out the blind and partially sighted fans, I think because this is effectively the AD you get at the ground. But even so they still can't label all the buttons on the web player so you have to guess which one is play. Anyway it's hardly a balanced commentary but at least I get to find out what is happening in the game.

Sorry I've been bottling this one up a bit. (Although Mrs Grieves might not agree about that.)

sara Orchard is a particular recidivist in this regard. all right, when she was doing the hockey at the Olympics I assumed it was because she didn't know much about hockey and therefore was trying to commentate on as little of it as possible, a bit like when 5 Live had supposedly special coverage of Teddy Riner's gold medal bout at the Paris olympics last year - they spent it chatting, but I could excuse that on the basis that presumably the commentators didn't understand judo. But when Sara Orchard does it in rugby as well? similarly we had Jonathan what's-his-face spending the boxing a couple of weekends ago telling us all about Djokovic v alcaras the following morning. The ITV audiodescription commentary is at least decent and focuses exclusively on what's going on in the game, both on and off the ball, rather than gossip. Try it for the football world cup, where I believe they are also having it.

sara Orchard is a particular recidivist in this regard. all right, when she was doing the hockey at the Olympics I assumed it was because she didn't know much about hockey and therefore was trying to commentate on as little of it as possible, a bit like when 5 Live had supposedly special coverage of Teddy Riner's gold medal bout at the Paris olympics last year - they spent it chatting, but I could excuse that on the basis that presumably the commentators didn't understand judo. But when Sara Orchard does it in rugby as well? similarly we had Jonathan what's-his-face spending the boxing a couple of weekends ago telling us all about Djokovic v alcaras the following morning. The ITV audiodescription commentary is at least decent and focuses exclusively on what's going on in the game, both on and off the ball, rather than gossip. Try it for the football world cup, where I believe they are also having it.

I don't know if it's available if you watch on ITVX. It seemed to decide to come on with our telly because we have audiodescription enabled on the skyQ box. Well worth giving it a go though. Yes, sometimes listening on BBC Sport can work better and you avoid all the football, racing, tennis digressions; but it doesn't always work like that I'm afraid. Of course, if you're Scottish or Welsh you can listen to uninterrupted biased commentary on Radio Scotland or Radio Wales, but there is no English equivalent. Ditto Radio Ulster if you're an Ireland fan.

And, the six Nations is the best sporting tournament in the world, in any sport! What makes it so is the fear of losing. A loss means your Welsh etc. mates have the bragging rights over you for the next twelve months and won't let you forget it. Plus it helps to have three of the best teams in the world in the Six Nations.

Hang on, Bingo, what about the Ashes? That's a series, not a tournament.

Hang on, what about the World Cup? In any sport that's special, but there's not the non-stop intensity and week after week rivalry of the Six Nations.

There are times in my life when I think the UK really has it going on. Especially with all the insanity going on currently in the US. Then I read threads like this and others, where it seems like the UK and neighboring countries do not have quite the selection of audio describe content that we have here in the States. Of course, you guys could always go the VPN route, and just tune in to American television. I shutter to think what that might do for your language skills though.
On the flipside, I have a friend who does just the opposite over here. She and her hubby Hooked their Netflix up through a VPN, so they can watch British Netflix television.
Irony.

Yes I've heard about that tech that allows you to feel the sportsmen, so to speak. I don't know where it has got to - whether it's one of those projects that just stalled, or whether it's actually got a meaningful future/foothold. Rugby would actually be a great sport on which to test it. I could also see it working well for cricket.

Brian, my own view is the audiodescriptions choices here are pretty good. Not perfect, but pretty good. However, I don't watch quite as much general entertainment content as others do. that is, entertainment other than sport. In terms of sport, the UK wins hands down. We have much better tV sports coverage, radio commentaries, radio streams (i.e. radio commentaries you can listen to but that aren't broadcast on the radio). County cricket, for example, has fantastic online coverage. I believe there's quite a county cricket fanbase in the US thanks to the Biased Broadcasting Corporation's online radio coverage of it. Go on, Brian, give it a try! First day of the County Championship season this year is Friday 3rd April, if I remember rightly. There are unfortunte black spots. I'm a season ticketholder aqt Saracens, and coverage of saracens can be patchy. The biggest frustration is when you pitch up to a game and the on-site commentary service doesn't work. In cases like that you're back to a 'what's happening now?' state of affairs.