Skopje, 13 March 2025 – The Agency has published the Overview of Programmes That Media Service Providers, in Accordance with Their Action Plans, Shall Make Accessible to Persons with Sensory Disabilities during 2025. According to the Law on Audio and Audiovisual Media Services, media service providers are obliged to take continuous and progressive steps to ensure accessibility of their services for persons with disabilities. In order to operationalize this obligation, a Rulebook on Accessibility to Media Services was developed, adopted by the Agency Council on 13 June 2024, on the basis of which media services concerned submitted annual action plans for 2025.
State-level television stations shall meet this obligation in the first year by ensuring accessibility to at least one programme that is aired at least once a week, while each subsequent year, they shall have to make one more programme accessible so as to achieve a cumulative effect.
The video-on-demand services will have to ensure accessibility of 2% of the content in their catalogues in the first year, while each subsequent year they shall increase this percentage by an additional 2%.
In addition, television programme services should inform people with disabilities about their accessible programmes through self-promotional announcements and in other ways before these are broadcast. The video-on-demand services should clearly mark the accessible programmes in their catalogues.
As part of the accessibility obligation, radio and TV programmes should improve the visibility and representation of people with disabilities. In doing so, it is recommended to avoid stereotypical portrayals, both negative (pity or as victims) and inappropriately positive ones (such as superheroes, for example). Instead, reporting should offer a balanced depiction of disability as part of everyday life, while promoting the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities in all areas, such as politics, economy, culture, sports, health care, etc.
AVMU will continuously monitor the fulfillment of the undertaken obligations by media service providers.
For all issues related to media services accessibility, the Agency has opened an e-mail address, dostapnost@avmu.mk. This contact point serves for obtaining information, submitting complaints, submitting action plans and reports, as well as for exchanging relevant information.