BT Sport launches Sign Up to spotlight deaf community

BT Sport has announced Sign Up, an initiative to raise the profile of the deaf community in sport.

A range of inclusive content has been created in partnership with athletes and celebrities, and which will be broadcast from 26 December with the launch of BT Sport’s British Sign Language content. Current and former Premier League players and managers, including Jack Grealish, Joe Cole, and Jurgen Klopp, will take viewers through the different letter of the alphabet. 

Next up, at 10pm on 6 January on BT Sport 1, BT Sport premieres the first episode of its new series, Deaf Away Days. The series, produced with Signpost Productions, follows deaf brothers, Marios and Memnos Costi, as they visit some of the biggest sporting events in the UK including rugby, football and track cycling. The Costi brothers have represented Team GB in Deaf football and futsal.

Then, from 3 February, another initiative, New Signing, will air on BT Sport. It will provide two BSL commentators or presenters with a first-of-its-kind opportunity to train up with BT Sport so that they can sign at some of the biggest BT Sport football games next season, including the FA Disability Cup 2023.

BT Sport worked with Ruth Montgomery to create a soundtrack for all Sign Up content. Montgomery is a deaf, classically trained musician who helps to bring music to the deaf community through her organisation Audiovisability. Audiovisability champions the deaf perspective, tapping into the ingenuity and brilliance of deaf creativity and musicianship.

Montgomery directed BT Sport in how to create a piece of music that can be best experienced by the deaf community. The Sign Up ensemble of six musicians includes three deaf performers on percussion, violin and flute. Alongside this, our visuals include soundwaves to graphically represent the music and feature Lucindha Lawson, an England deaf footballer, performing football tricks cut to the beat of the music. These elements combine to help bring the Sign Up soundtrack to life for the deaf community.

Jamie Hindhaugh, head of BT Sport, said: “Sport should be for everybody and there should be no barriers stopping anyone from accessing it. At BT Sport, with the help of our partners, we’re taking steps to provide better accessibility in sport through Sign Up. Through New Signing, Deaf Away Days and our BSL Alphabet campaigns, we aim to help our deaf viewers enjoy sport more than ever and help raise awareness.”