STAMFORD, Conn.—NBCUniversal has laid out its plans for making the Olympic Games Paris 2024 more accessible to more viewers than ever before with enhanced closed captioning, expanded audio description, and improved digital content accessibility.
Closed captioning, which provides text of the coverage audio for viewers who are Deaf or hard of hearing, will be available for all Olympic events airing across NBCU’s broadcast and cable networks. NBCUniversal will also provide closed captioning for all digital live streams with commentary across Peacock, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.
In addition, it will be providing more audio description services – interspersing broadcast audio with skilled voices describing Olympic scenes and context – for viewers who are blind or visually impaired for the Paris Olympics than any previous Games.
All coverage on NBC, including daytime, primetime, and late night, and the Gold Zone whip-around show on Peacock, will feature audio description provided by Descriptive Video Works. In a first for a U.S. broadcaster, audio description services for NBC coverage will be provided in stereo, enhancing the quality of sound for viewers, the company reported.
Additionally, improved web content accessibility, including keyboard navigation, color contrast and support for screen readers, will be available on NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC Sports app, and Peacock. Livestreams and replays which offer audio description will have English audio description as a language choice within the players on these digital platforms. To easily find all events with audio description, click here.
“We’re excited to provide all viewers with more accessibility to our Olympics coverage than ever before,” said Gary Zenkel, president, NBC Olympics. “With the goal of enabling all viewers to enjoy the unprecedented excitement of the Olympic Games in Paris, we’re proud to provide closed captioning on all live coverage and the most audio description ever.”
All of this audio description and closed captioning will be available to Comcast Xfinity customers who experience the Games on the Xfinity X1 platform, including on the live Olympic Games coverage delivered in 4K, on Xfinity Stream, and on Xfinity Flex.
“For over a decade, Comcast NBCUniversal has been committed to connecting people to moments that matter,” said Tom Wlodkowski, vice president of accessibility at Comcast. “NBCUniversal’s accessible coverage for this year’s Olympic Games is an important part of our mission. As a consumer of Olympics programming with audio description, I could not be more excited to share in the joy that these Paris Summer Games will bring.”
