by JP Corcoran

In a bid to enhance accessibility in sports broadcasting, Guinness and British Broadcaster ITV have teamed up to introduce live descriptive audio commentary for the Guinness Six Nations rugby tournament. This new feature debuts for two big matches: England vs Wales on February 10 and England vs Ireland on March 9.

How does it work? Viewers just need to turn on the audio description function on their TVs to hear the commentary. The commentators, Danielle Waterman (Guinness ambassador), Nick Heath (rugby commentator) and Dave Rogers (rugby commentator and trained audio describer), will describe the action in detail, making it easier for people with visual impairments to follow along and enjoy the game.

It follows on from research which reveals that 71% of the blind and visually impaired community engage with sport through TV and radio but are not able to fully experience the game at home with standard commentary and subtitles.

It’s not just about TV either. Guinness is also improving accessibility at the stadiums. They’re training stadium staff to support disabled and neurodivergent fans, and they’re enhancing sensory rooms and fan resources to make the experience better for everyone.

ITV commercial director of commercial sales and partnerships Mark Trinder said: “The Guinness Six Nations is a huge sporting and broadcasting event and at ITV we want to make sure our coverage is as accessible as possible to as big an audience as possible”.

One thing is certain – this collaboration marks a significant step towards a more inclusive sports broadcasting environment, which we hope will help inspire others to follow suit.