.

16 May 2024

Disney Star to Include an Indian Sign Language and Audio Descriptive Feed for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024

This Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Disney+ Hotstar and Star Sports Network take a step forward in setting new standards for inclusivity in live cricket.

Mumbai, 16th May, 2024: On the occasion of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Disney Star in association with India Signing Hands (ISH), announces the availability of an Indian Sign Language (ISL) feed for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, starting June 2. This will be applicable for 10 matches including the India matches, semi-finals and finals. The company will also support an audio descriptive feed, along with the ISL feed on Disney+ Hotstar and Star Sports Network. This is the first time that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will be broadcast with sign language and descriptive commentary making cricket more immersive for its deaf, hard-of-hearing and visually impaired users. With this, Disney+ Hotstar also becomes the first OTT platform to make ISL available for LIVE cricket. 

Commenting on Disney Star’s initiative, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Hon’ble Minister of Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India said,

“I commend Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar for introducing Indian Sign Language and Audio Descriptive commentary during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. The Government of India is committed to creating an inclusive society and I strongly believe that this initiative will enhance the viewing experience for millions of differently abled sports enthusiasts.”
- Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Hon’ble Minister of Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India
“We are thrilled to embrace accessibility features making the ICC Men's T20 World Cup available to more fans of the sport. This underscores our commitment to promote inclusivity and serve all users. With these enhancements, we aim to ensure that the excitement of cricket knows no bounds.”
- Sajith Sivanandan, Head, Disney+ Hotstar India
“The descriptive and Indian sign language feeds on Star Sports during Tata IPL 2024 were met with an overwhelming response. Disney Star is extending this endeavour to make cricket fandom and experiences more inclusive by introducing, for the first time ever, these feeds on the ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Our mission of serving sports fans is powered by such pioneering initiatives which seek to remove barriers of access and engagement for fans from all walks of life. The initiative also serves to present a more inclusive picture of India's favourite sport and is of immense pride for the sporting fraternity.”
- Sanjog Gupta, Head - Sports, Disney Star
“This feed has fostered the love of cricket into so many differently abled individuals during IPL. With Disney Star continuing this initiative for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 at a larger scale with both Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar supporting this feed, I am confident that it will open doors to the exciting world of cricket to many more people from the Deaf and Visually Impaired communities. This collaboration is really close to my heart since it makes the sport truly accessible and inclusive.”
- Alok Kejriwal, Founder and CEO, India Signing Hands (ISH News)

The ISL feed will provide a comprehensive ball-by-ball update through the presence of a translator on the live stream. The audio descriptive feed will be complemented by voice-over technology, which can render text and images into a speech output, enabling our visually impaired users to easily navigate through the Disney+ Hotstar app.

According to the World Health Organization, with an estimated 63 million community of deaf and 40 million community of visually impaired individuals in India, the need for inclusive entertainment is undeniable. After successfully introducing these features for the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Star Sports Network, Disney Star will make it available for all the India matches along with the semi-finals and finals of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on both Disney+ Hotstar and Star Sports Network, giving its users the freedom to watch on either of the platforms, at the comfort of their homes or on-the-go.

Starting June 2, tune in to Disney+ Hotstar to watch the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 LIVE and FREE on mobile. The tournament will also be broadcast LIVE on Star Sports Network. 

For more information, please contact:

Gopika Gulati; gopika@hotstar.com; +91 9650603387

Rohan D’Souza; Rohan.Dsouza@disney.com; +91 9833834146

Print
Show me everything from anytime
Press Release

STAR Plus boosts Tweeple to ‘Tweet to Unlock’ the exclusive Satyamev Jayate Promo

Commenting on this pioneering activity, Gayatri Yadav EVP, Marketing and Communications, STAR India said, “Satyamev Jayate has become a people’s brand, and digital has played a key role in this. The response the show has got for each of the seasons has been ground breaking. This is our way of engaging our digital audience and involving them in conversations for the show at the outset of breaking the campaign. We are happy to partner with Twitter for “Tweet To Unlock” and making this an exciting activity”.

Press Release

A Secret You’d Love To Share

Mr. Kevin Vaz, General Manager – English Cluster, Star India said, “At Star Movies we always believe in creating experiences for our viewers through strong engagement opportunities and high impact campaigns. We are proud to present a first-of-its-kind concept in India - Star Movies Secret Screening. A private screening of some special movies held only for a select few movie enthusiasts’ weeks before its worldwide release. We are happy with the overwhelming response and as always we will continue to constantly engage our audience with such immersive experiences.”

Press Release

‘You can’t build a sport without putting it on TV – we don’t have to be a one-sport nation’: Uday Shankar

Uday Shankar is CEO of Star TV India, which broadcast and backed the Pro-Kabaddi League. Kabaddi surprised India, garnered 2.5 times more viewers in its first week than the FIFA World Cup and became the most-watched Indian live sports event after IPL. He discusses India’s prospects as a sporting nation, the role of TV as a social catalyst in creating sports culture and lessons from the Kabaddi League.

1
331 332 333
650
Imagine more
Id: 11740