Round up: ITVS joins accessibility initiative TAP; Vix preps Turkish drama ‘For My Family’; 9 Story reveals AVOD push

Bethany Matthews

ITV Studios joins UK accessibility initiative TAP

ITV Studios (ITVSS) has become an Associate Member of the TV Access Project (TAP), with Bethany Matthews appointed as its first in-house access co-ordinator.

Matthews will ensure that access requirements for Deaf, Disabled and/or Neurodivergent people, and anyone with long-term health conditions are met. She reports to Julie Clark, director of production of drama at ITVS and Sam Tatlow, creative diversity partner at ITV.

ITVS’s membership of TAP, meanwhike, means the company has committed to meeting TAP’s guidelines for Disability Inclusion and the 5As: Anticipating, Asking, Assessing, Adjusting and Advocating when it comes to working with disabled talent and making production spaces accessible for all.

As part of TAP, ITVS will work pan-industry to consider issues including funding models for access and reasonable adjustments, the rollout of access co-ordinators and the retention and progression of disabled talent into senior roles.

TAP was launched in August 2022 in response to the Underlying Health Condition campaign. It brings together 10 of the UK’s biggest broadcasters and streamers who have pledged to work together “to create a substantive and permanent structural shift in the TV industry to ensure access provision for disabled talent.”

Vix preps Turkish drama For My Family

TelevisaUnivision’s streamer ViX has picked up Turkish drama For My Family.

The show, sold by ATV Distribution, will also be available on Univision. It tracks the lives of four siblings who lose both of their parents on the same day.

Telefe in Argentina and TVN in Chile are among companies to have previously up the show.

9 Story reveals AVOD push

Canada’s 9 Story Distribution has revealed it has struck a raft of AVOD deals over the past year, totalling almost 1,000 hours of content.

Agreements have been struck with companies including Pluto, Tubi, Roku, Peacock, Xumo, Kidoodle, Amazon PVD and Happy Kids, with kids shows such as Barney, Garfield And Friends, and Camp Lakebottom becoming available.

In total, 9 Story said it had struck deals for 1,700 half-hours. To support the push, it has also acquired worldwide VOD rights (excluding the UK and Ireland) to live-action titles from MonRae Productions: Let’s Game (100 x 5 minutes) and Challenge DanTDM (10 x 10 minutes).

Both shows have previously aired on Sky Kids in the UK.