BBC iPlayer has two different media players, one for Catch-up TV and one for Live TV. Each offers different functionality and also behave differently with screen readers.
Catch up TV
The media player for catch up TV is keyboard accessible and works best with Jaws 12 and NVDA with IE8 and IE9. Standard shortcuts can be used such as:
• TAB and SHIFT + TAB - moves focus forwards and backwards through the iPlayer controls
• SPACEBAR and ENTER - to activate a control
If using Jaws you will need to ensure that the Virtual PC Cursor is switched off (Insert + Z). You can forward and rewind programs in 1% increments as well as mute and adjust the volume control by using SPACEBAR or ENTER on the Timeline or Volume button and then tabbing or shift tabbing to move up or down.
Programs can be viewed in full screen but you will need to exit full screen, by selecting ESCAPE, in order to use the controls.
Live TV
The Live TV media player works with Jaws 12 and NVDA 2011.13 with IE9 and IE8. We have added support for Firefox however due to frequent browser updates we cannot always guarantee it is stable.
The Live TV player has buttons which let you restart the currently viewed programme as well as rewind live TV to watch programmes that have aired in the last two hours. This can be done by selecting the "Restart current programme" button or selecting your programme of choice in the list of programmes featured after the Timeline.
Navigation
You can navigate the player using the following keyboard shortcuts:
• TAB and SHIFT + TAB - moves focus forwards and backwards through the iPlayer controls
• SPACEBAR and ENTER - to activate a control, or SPACEBAR to activate Full Screen
• Up/right and down/left arrows - increases or decrease the volume or forward-wind or rewind the video. These work when the volume or timeline have focus but may also work elsewhere when you have focus in the player depending on your screen reader and browser set-up.
• M - to mute and un-mute the volume
• F - to enter full screen
• 1 - jump to the start of the program
• 2-9 - jump 20% to 90% increments
Global shortcuts will only work when keyboard focus is in the player (rather than the web page) and M, F and 1 to 9 may not work depending on your browser and screen reader combination.
Known issues
We aim to make the Live TV player progressively more accessible to people with disabilities by rolling out fixes and enhancements where the technology allows us. The accessibility of the player may however be affected due to changes in versions of the Flash Player, the browser or the screen reader. While some of these issues are within our control others are due to Flash security restrictions or browser issues. Known issues are:
• Programme labels are currently not working, a fix is coming soon
• SHIFT + TAB may not work in full screen in some browsers due to Adobe restrictions
• The ENTER key will not work on the ‘Full screen' button due to Adobe security restrictions but works. It should work using SPACEBAR
• Labels may not get read out in full screen mode by NVDA
To find out what version of Firefox is currently supported by BBC iPlayer please read our FAQ: What Internet Browsers and Operating Systems do we currently support for use with BBC iPlayer?
The best way to make iPlayer work for you is to hear your feedback. Let us know what you think at: accessibilityteam@bbc.co.uk
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