ITU-D -FLASH • 2015 SMART SOLUTIONS TO MAKE TV PROGRAMMING MORE ACCESSIBLE The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in partnership with the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the European Commission held a workshop on 18 March, 2015, in Barcelona, Spain, on Smart Accessibility on Connected TV. The discussions laid the groundwork for an exchange of good practices on the enabling environment and technical solutions to make television and video programming more accessible for persons with disabilities in the converging ICT ecosystem.The workshop was organized within the framework of the ITU European Regional Initiative on “Ensuring access to telecommunications/ICTs, in particular for persons with disabilities”, a key area of focus adopted by the 2014 ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference.“Despite the increasing deployment of telecommunication/ICT networks, equipment and applications, persons with disabilities continue to face enormous barriers in using ICTs,” noted Mr Brahima Sanou. “Governments, regulators, technical experts and academic institutions must work together to identify innovative concrete solutions to ensure persons with disabilities can enjoy television, once programming is made more accessible by including solutions such as closed captions and audio description and making users aware of these solutions on electronic programming guides.”Mr Sanou said he was delighted to see that the Regional Initiative for Europe on ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities has achieved its first results. “I invite all stakeholders to respond to our call for contributions to the Regional Initiative for Europe on ensuring access to telecommunication/ICTs, in particular for persons with disabilities,” he added. “I also invite stakeholders to join us at the European Regional Development Forum, which will be held from 20 to 22 April 2015 in Bucharest, Romania.”Mr Harald Trettenbrein, Deputy Head of Unit, Converging Media and Content at the European Commission stressed that accessibility has been rapidly becoming an important issue among Members of the European Union. “Enhanced cooperation amongst all stakeholders on TV sets with enhanced accessibility on display in Barcelona