CBS and the Recording Academy will broaden access to this year’s 64th Annual Grammy Awards by providing, for the first time, audio description for the live telecast.
The addition of audio description, which provides audio-narrated descriptions of a program’s key visual elements, ensures that viewers who are blind and low vision will be able to take in all the action occurring on the screen, and provides a much richer experience of the event. The audio description will be provided on the Secondary Audio Programming (SAP) channel by industry leaders VITAC and Audio Eyes.
Live from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and hosted by Trevor Noah, the Grammy Awards will be broadcast live on Sunday, April 3, at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT on the CBS Television Network, and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+. (Paramount+ Premium subscribers will have access to stream live via the live feed of their local CBS affiliate on the service as well as on demand. Essential-tier subscribers will have access to the program on-demand the day after the special airs. Audio Description on Paramount+ will only be included in post-live air streams.)
Since April 1, 2002, CBS continuously has provided audio description and is proud to have been an industry leader and innovator in the voluntary provision of the service. The network offers audio description with nearly all its regularly scheduled scripted primetime programs, all movies, selected specials and the entire CBS Dream Team Saturday morning block of educational/informational children’s programming.
“For the past 20 years, CBS has continually increased the availability of audio description. We are proud to be able to launch our first live event with the Grammy Awards. This initiative reflects Paramount Global’s core values and commitment to inclusivity,” said Mark Turits, vice president of captioning and audio description at Paramount Global.
VITAC also provided live captions and live audio description for this year’s 94th Oscars on ABC, and live captions and description for this year’s Screen Actor Guild Awards on TNT and TBS.