AMI partners with Toronto Blue Jays to air baseball games with described video
TORONTO, Aug. 28, 2012 /CNW/ - Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) announced today that it will air three Sportsnet simulcasts of the Toronto Blue Jays games in September, complete with described video making them completely accessible for Blue Jays fans who are blind or partially sighted.
AMI will air the last three Saturday home games of the 2012 season; September 1st vs. the Tampa Bay Rays, September 15th vs. the Boston Red Sox and September 29th vs. the New York Yankees. All three games have 1:00pm start times.
"This is a giant step for AMI and we are thrilled to bring the excitement of Blue Jays Baseball to our TV audience," explains AMI Vice-President of Programming and Production, John Melville. "The relaxed pace of baseball is an ideal platform for described video, and fans who are blind or partially sighted will appreciate that extra level of involvement, which will include description of on-screen graphics, displaying score and pitch counts."
Seasoned sports commentator, Sam Cosentino will provide the described video for all three games. Cosentino was a member of Sportsnet's team covering the Blue Jays from 2006 - 2010 and currently co-hosts Baseball Central on Sportsnet 590 The Fan.
"We couldn't ask for a better describer than Sam Cosentino for this project," continues Melville. "Sam has been closely aligned with the team for more than fifteen years and will offer some great insight to our audience."
"We are very pleased to join with Accessible Media Inc. and Sportsnet to provide this service to the vision impaired," states Paul Beeston, President and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays. "To our knowledge, we are the first sports organization to have our games provided through this revolutionary approach to accommodating the needs of the blind and low vision community."
Catch all the action of Toronto Blue Jays Baseball on AMI. Check your local listings or ami.ca for details.
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About Accessible Media Inc.
Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) is a not-for-profit multimedia organization operating two broadcast services, AMI-TV, AMI-audio, and a web site, AMI.ca. AMI serves more than five million Canadians who are blind or with low vision, deaf or hard of hearing, learning disabled, mobility or print restricted, or learning English as a second language by making print, broadcast and online media accessible.
SOURCE: Accessible Media Inc. (AMI)
Janis Davidson Pressick, Communications Manager
800-567-6755 ext. 0971, [email protected]
Andrea Ramos, Public Relations Coordinator
800-567-6755 ext. 0977, [email protected]
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