Live Audio Description
Leading the way as the pioneer of live descriptionDescriptive Video Works has celebrated a number of milestones in broadcast history. In 2010, we pioneered audio description of live tv events by describing awards shows and live reality competition shows in real time.
In 2012, we broke ground again by live describing the opening and closing ceremonies and daily highlights of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London. We continue to partner with broadcast networks in championing all access to these distinguished events today.
Our commitment to raising the bar for blind and visually-impaired viewers led to another first. In 2015, we made US broadcast history with The Wiz Live!. Partnering with NBC and Comcast, the Descriptive Video Works team was on set to provide live description in real time as the scenes unfolded in this televised version of the hit Broadway musical.
“People told me ‘You’ll never be able to do live’, so this was truly exciting for us to be approached by CTV Network to break this ground by providing the first live reality television for visually-impaired viewers,” Diane Johnson, speaking to Broadcaster Magazine.
Live World-Class Sporting Events
- Olympic and Paralympic Games in London (2012), Sochi (2014), Rio (2016), PyeongChang (2018), Tokyo (2021), and Beijing (2022)
- Pan American Games
Opening and closing ceremonies - Parapan American Games
Opening and closing ceremonies in English and French
Live Television Programs
- Hairspray Live! – NBC and Comcast
- The Wiz Live! – NBC and Comcast
- Canadian Screen Awards
- Juno Awards
- Much Music Awards
- So You Think You Can Dance Canada
- Prime Time Royal Wedding
- Daily Planet Live – Discovery, CTV network
- Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – NBC and Comcast
- Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks – NBC and Comcast
- Annie Live! – NBC and Comcast
Highly skilled and specially trained team of live describers
Our professional team all have expertise in the disciplines they are describing. From theatre production to acting to sports reporting and journalism, they are specially trained to describe live programming in real time from around the world.
Extensive research goes into each production or event before describing begins. This background information is integral to narrating each scene or action as the production unfolds providing a seamless, informative and high quality product viewers have come to expect.