Content from Accessibility
Accessibility of Yle's content and services
Yle's duty is to provide programmes also for minorities and special groups. Yle supports the equal opportunities of the entire population of Finland to participate in society and social debate, and therefore pays special attention to the accessibility of its content and services.
Yle's public service duty is defined in the Act on the Finnish Broadcasting Company (1380/1993).
Subtitles
Voice subtitling
Audio description
Content in sign languages
Content in different languages
Why does Yle create content in different languages?
It is Yle's duty to support the equal opportunities of the entire population of Finland to participate in the society and in the associated discourse, and to take part in shared experiences. That is why we create content in different languages.
In which languages does Yle produce content?
Yle produces content in fourteen languages: Finnish, Swedish and three Sami languages (Northern Sami, Inari Sami and Colt Sami), in Finnish and Finnish-Swedish sign language, Roma, Karelian, English, Russian, Ukrainian, Somali and Arabic. Yle also produces programmes in plain Finnish and Swedish.
How to find Yle’s content in different languages
Plain language
What kind of service is it?
Plain language content is more understandable than general language content in terms of vocabulary and structure. Plain language is particularly useful for immigrants who are studying Finnish or Swedish, the elderly or people who have difficulty understanding speech or writing.
What content does Yle produce in plain language?
Yle offers news, current affairs content and some children’s content on television, radio and online in Finnish plain language. Yle also publishes radio news in plain Swedish.
Where can I find plain language programmes?
You can find Yle’s programmes in plain Finnish and Swedish online and on Yle Areena. Get to know content in plain Finnish and Swedish on Yle Areena or read news in plain Finnish on Yle’s website
Audio options
Some of Yle’s programmes have different audio and language settings. For example, programmes acquired from abroad may include the original commentary, in addition to the in Finnish or Swedish audio description.
How to select audio settings for a programme
You can change the audio setting in the receiver’s audio settings.
On Yle Areena, the different audio descriptions can be selected, for example, using the sound icon at the bottom right of the screen, depending on the receiver.
Read more about the different audio options in Finnish.
Accessibility of Yle’s digital services
What are Yle’s digital services?
Yle’s digital services in Finnish include Yle.fi, the Yle app and Yle Areena. Digital services in Swedish include svenska.yle.fi, the Yle app and Yle Arenan.
Article listening feature
Some of Yle’s articles can be listened to by using the listen button next to the article. The article is read out loud mechanically. The listening feature is available for some Finnish, Swedish and Northern Sami articles. Starting in late 2025, read-out-loud articles will also be available in Karelian (Livvi-Karelian).
Video and audio speed slowdown option
The playback speed of videos and audio on Yle Areena can be slowed down, which also slows down the accessibility services related to the programme, such as subtitling, voice subtitling and audio description.
You can slow down videos on Yle Areena by clicking on the settings icon (gearwheel) at the bottom right of the media player.
The speed of audio programmes can be either slowed down or sped up. At the moment, this feature is only available on mobile devices. To adjust the speed, select a programme and press play. Once the programme has started, enlarge the programme to full screen. You will see the text 1.00x on the programme page. Press the text to adjust the speed of the audio.
Enlarging the screen to full size
In the Yle Areena browser service and mobile applications, you can enlarge the video to be viewed on the full screen. The enlargement option can be found at the bottom right of the display (square with dashed lines).
Read more about the accessibility of Yle Areena.
How do we develop the accessibility of our digital services?
Yle develops the technical accessibility and availability of its digital services as part of daily service development. Accessibility has also been promoted by improving the retrievability of sign-language, audio-described and plain-language content on Yle Areena.
Read the accessibility statements for our digital services:
Accessibility statement for the Yle Areena browser version (areena.yle.fi) (in Finnish)
Accessibility statement for the Yle Areena app (iOS and Android) (in Finnish)
Accessibility statement for the Yle Areena TV app (Apple TV, Android TV and others) (in Finnish)
Feedback on the accessibility of digital services can be sent to Yle’s customer service.
Yle’s accessible content in hours of programming
Accessible content in TV and Yle Areena, programming hours 2024
Content in Finnish and Finnish-Swedish sign language total 399 hours, including 362 hours in Finnish sign language and 38 hours in Finnish-Swedish sign language
Audio descriptions total 248 hours, including 190 hours of audio descriptions in Finnish and 57 hours of audio descriptions in Swedish
Content in plain Finnish 23 hours
Content in three Sámi languages, i.e. Northern, Skolt and Inari Sámi 64 hours
News in Russian 28 hours
Not all of Yle’s services for minority and special groups can be counted as programming hours. Content is also produced as articles and for social media, and the number of these hours is not included in the calculations.
Accessible content in radio and Yle Areena, program hours in 2024
Content in plain Finnish 19 hours
Content in plain Swedish 22 hours
Content in English 37 hours
Content in Romani 10 hours
Content in Karelian 2.5 hours
Content in the three Sámi languages, i.e. Northern, Skolt and Inari Sámi 1,506 hours
Yle jury
Yle wants to develop its services and content together with the people who use them. Yle jury is a group of experts by experience, consisting of people with visual and hearing impairments, in particular. It examines Yle’s content and services as well as the public service activities from the point of view of accessibility. For example, the jury has discussed Yle Areena's login and special news articles.
Are you interested in Yle jury’s activities? Please contact yleisradio@yle.fi.