By Robert Kingett
As more people turn to online streaming to get their content, it can be difficult for a visually impaired person to know what accessible options are out there. It can be equally as frustrating trying to judge the quality of these services.
This mini guide provides a general overview of the accessibility services offered by streaming companies and how well they perform. Note: This list is focused on accessible streaming services, and does not include cable providers.
Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase through these links (at no additional cost to you).
Accessible Streaming Services
Netflix
Price: $9 to $16 per month
Netflix began offering audio description (AD) in 2015. They describe nearly all originals, even newly released comedy specials. Older comedy specials won’t have audio description. They actively try to acquire third-party AD tracks from production companies wherever possible.
They have an audio description category on all mobile apps. Their audio description catalog on the web can even be filtered down by genre.
Netflix even offers audio description in languages other than English for people watching in the U.S. on selected titles.
When browsing titles on their website, their details page clearly says audio description is available. They have two play buttons, one to start with AD enabled, and one to start with AD disabled.
One major drawback of Netflix, however, is that they will only produce one AD track. This is a big problem for foreign originals that are dubbed in English because the AD is only available in that native language. There have also been reports that the AD is region locked. An English AD track for a Netflix original made in the U.S. won’t have an English AD track when a U.S. user travels to other countries, for example.
Amazon Prime Video
Price: Comes free with Amazon Prime membership ($12.99 per month), or $8.99 a month if purchased separately. If you have a valid EBT or Medicaid card, Prime benefits cost $5.99 a month for a maximum of four years.
Amazon started offering audio described content in 2017. Amazon has titles that can be rented or purchased with audio description. Some titles can be streamed for free with a Prime subscription. The titles that can be streamed for free rotate due to licensing deals. The Prime originals, created by Amazon, can only be accessed with a Prime subscription, but will never expire because Amazon is the producer. Amazon took three years to include audio description information in details of titles. The web player isn’t fully keyboard accessible, but the iOS app is accessible, as well as the Apple TV app. Many blind Android users report that the app is accessible. Audio description doesn’t work on all third-party TVs though, so if you have an obscure smart TV or a Roku device, you may not be able to get AD.
Amazon has recently started actively working with AD companies that provide text-to-speech AD rather than human-narrated AD. Some say this is a good thing. While I firmly disagree, it could lead to more titles with AD that never had the chance to get AD in the past.
Even though Amazon provides described content, that content isn’t easy to search for and filter. They only have one audio description category link. There’s no AD category on any of the apps. Searching for audio description within the Prime Video app on both iOS and Apple TV leads to inaccurate results.
IMDb TV
Price: Free
IMDb, the Internet Movie Database, is owned by Amazon. In addition to their well-known online database of movie data, they operate a free streaming service called IMDb TV, which includes some audio described content. This is the only technically free service to watch described movies. One could argue that it’s supposed to persuade you to buy Amazon Prime to get commercial free Prime video, but the service has no limitations. It does feature ads though, at random times throughout the movies. There’s no way to tell what movies have audio description, though. There’s no AD category, nor audio description details on movie pages. You can watch IMDb TV through their website or by connecting it to your Amazon Prime account and selecting “stream free with ads” on a title’s Prime detail page if it’s available.
Disney+
Price: $6.99 per month, or $69.99 per year.
Disney+ has described content. Everything within Disney+ is owned by Disney, but not everything is described. Diligent staff members are working to eventually make their entire catalog have audio description, which is their reasoning for not including an AD category within the app, nor an AD designation symbol. Still, it won’t happen overnight, which is why I wish Disney would put an audio description identifier on detail pages.
All originally produced titles during and after 2020 will have audio description. Still, the quality of the accessibility service is somewhat inconsistent. Their support staff doesn’t know what audio description is, or even screen readers. Sometimes, audio description won’t retain across titles or devices. Their web player isn’t fully accessible via the keyboard. It can be difficult for screen reader users running older versions of JAWS to use their website. Their iOS and Apple TV app is fully accessible, though. Blind Android users say their Android app is fully accessible.
Apple TV/iTunes
Price: Varies per title
Apple started offering described movies around Global Accessibility Awareness Day in 2016. Users can rent or buy described titles. Like everything else “Apple,” it just works. AD is designated in a movie’s details page on both the iOS and Apple TV details page. AD is in English only when browsing for described titles. It just works. That’s it. Find a described movie and play it. If your AD setting is turned on in accessibility settings, the AD will automatically start.
Two major drawbacks are that the audio description category isn’t easily located on the Apple TV. It’s buried under an obscure genre list in the features tab of the TV or movies app. The other drawback is that TV shows, except for Apple TV+ originals, don’t have AD at all. Apple says that acquiring TV licensing rights is more complicated and different than acquiring movie rights, but that claim doesn’t make sense when their competitors obtain AD tracks for TV shows regularly. If Apple could get AD tracks for TV shows, this service would be my number one pick for accessible media services. All elements are labeled. Everything just simply works.
Apple TV+
Price: $5 per month
Apple TV+ is my number one choice for accessible streaming services. Apple TV+ is their subscription offering, where users pay a monthly subscription and watch Apple original shows whenever they want. Apple TV+ has everything described. Considering that Apple TV+ consists only of Apple originals, this isn’t shocking. AD is available in multiple languages on every title. AD isn’t region locked. AD isn’t encoded in a low quality, either. AD is available in Dolby Atmos.
Everything is labeled. All menus read. Everything is accessible. It also sounds great on a high-quality Bluetooth speaker. It just works, and it works far better than any other service. I also rank Apple’s content higher than any other originals. I have yet to dislike a show or movie on there.
The only drawback is that Apple TV+ isn’t made for binging. TV shows release episodes every week. Still, there’s something about clearing out my weekend calendar to dive into an Apple TV+ episode that leaves me feeling calm. I’m not overwhelmed by binging and I’m happy I don’t feel like I have 30 episodes to go all at once. This, of course, is a personal preference. Still, my Apple love shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
Hulu
Price: $5.99/mo. (Hulu) or $54.99/mo. (Hulu + Live TV)
After refusing to take accessibility seriously and ignoring the visually impaired community, Hulu and advocates from the American Council of the Blind (ACB) and Bay State Council of the Blind (BSCB) reached a settlement agreement in October 2018 to increase the accessibility of Hulu’s streaming service. Their deadline was January 2020. Hulu offers Hulu originals and third-party content with audio description. Their apps are also now much more accessible than they were previously. Described content can be difficult to find without browsing their AD catalog page online. The iOS and Apple TV apps have the same category, but it’s buried under the genre menu for some reason. Titles don’t designate audio description availability in detail pages at all. AD isn’t in high quality as on other platforms. Many customer service representatives don’t know what audio description is without asking supervisors. Hulu seems to be adding described tracks for third-party content the slowest out of all the services.
CBS All Access
Price: $5.99 per month
CBS All Access has audio description. That’s the only good thing I can say about it. Their app has a ton of unlabeled buttons. Audio description doesn’t play in both channels when wearing a Bluetooth headset. AD skips and stutters while programs continue to play. Audio description settings never retained for me when switching shows or devices. Their customer service representatives are very convinced that audio description is closed captioning, even after a lengthy explanation. AD isn’t available for all seasons of originals or third-party content. AD has static when listening via a Bluetooth speaker. The AD audio channel mutes some shows completely. An episode isn’t described when an audio description language option exists. There’s no way, inside the app, to tell what shows or episodes have audio description at all.
Out of all the other services on this list, I’d actually say you should avoid paying for this service at all costs, even if there are originals you may want to watch. There are far more accessible services out there that deserve your money. CBS All Access doesn’t deserve money from the visually impaired community at all in its current state.
Graphic of audio description symbol: Font Awesome Free 5.2.0 by @fontawesome / CC BY