France's public broadcaster La Chaîne Parlementaire(LCP) - Assemblée nationale was keen to put France's new 'disability' law of February 2005 into practice, even though they were not officially obliged to. This law aims to make all programmes on public TV channels accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing by 2010. (It also applies to all independent TV channels with 2.5% or more of the national audience.)

LCP called on the expertise of Red Bee Media France's unique subtitling technology to achieve their targets - to offer subtitles on over 40% of its programming, with incremental increases up to 100% by 2010. LCP can now offer its viewers scrolling subtitles on a wide selection of its programming, enabling them ALL to follow political and parliamentary news, views and commentary, as well as election coverage and the all important results.

"This decision is a clear reflection of the public commitment that LCP has chosen to make to France's five million deaf and hard-of-hearing people, who are discriminated against when it comes to accessing political and parliamentary programmes. We hope that all specialised channels will follow in LCP's footsteps, allowing France to catch up with its European neighbours on this issue."
Eve-Lise Blanc-Deleuze, General Secretary of LCP-Assemblée nationale