The U S Department of Education yesterday announced that thousands of children with visual or hearing disabilities may now access free on-demand children's television programming.
Dozens of children’s and family TV episodes may now be viewed online featuring closed captioning and descriptions through our Accessible Television Portal project. Among the shows: “Ocean Mysteries,” “Magic School Bus,” “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” “Expedition Wild” and “Peg + Cat.”
The portal is part of the Department-funded Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP). It includes video-on-demand content provided at no cost by the major television networks, as well as producers and distributors like PBS Kids, Sesame Workshop, Cartoon Network, Sprout (NBC), the Fred Rogers Company, Scholastic Media, Litton Entertainment, Out of the Blue and Fremantle Television.
“In the digital age, the capability exists to deliver a higher level of personalized programming for students who were underserved in the past,” said Secretary Arne Duncan. “This type of large-scale collaboration between the Education Department and so many major television networks, producers and program distributors will allow greater access to television programming for all students.”
To view the content, teachers and school personnel, parents, and other professionals working with qualified students can visit www.dcmp.org and apply for access to the portal.
Once approved, accessible content can be used with, and by, students in the classroom and at home via the Web, mobile phones and tablets, mobile apps, and set-top boxes. The portal itself is fully accessible to those with sensory impairments. Children with disabilities can locate any featured program without difficulty.
You can read the DOE blog post about this announcement here.
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