Unfortunately, if you're a blind consumer who wants to enjoy TV content, far too many of the online cordcutting solutions don't take accessibility into account. While online-first services like Netflix and Disney are pretty good about offering audio description these days, livestreaming, IPTV, cloud PVR, and video on demand services for TV based broadcasts are a different story. Even if audio description was there in the original broadcast, it's often missing in the online stream, and unavailable in the video on demand archive. That's assuming the online website is even screenreader accessible in the first place.

Sailing the high seas isn't really an option, either. Pirated content almost never includes audio description. When it does, the audio description track has been downmixed to stereo, or the video portion has been removed entirely. It's not an option if you want to watch with others, or enjoy that nice audio system you've got. If you depend on captions, you'll have similar issues with pirated content. Subtitles are widely available, but captions far less so.

The Streaming Services that are Worthwhile

In my experience, if you're going to subscribe to any streaming services, the three to consider are Apple TV Plus, Netflix, and Disney Plus. Not only do these three have the largest amount of content available with audio description, they also have accessible apps and websites, and offer audio description mixes in some form of Dolby surround instead of just stereo (or worse, mono). As someone who doesn't like superheroes and doesn't have any kids in my life, I've opted for Apple TV because I could bundle it in with my other Apple subscriptions, and I add Netflix during the winter months.

Live TV

When it comes to live TV, though, your best option is going to be over the air (OTA) broadcasts received with a TV antenna. Don't worry, though: these aren't your grandparent's rabbit ears. Today, over the air broadcasts are fully digital, include HD video, audio descriptions, captions, and the broadcast schedule in a format PVRs can use. While there is some up-front cost to setting this up, depending on the cost of cable subscriptions in your area, it'll probably pay for itself in less than a year.

The Antenna

The first thing you'll need is an antenna. While indoor antennas are available, in my experience they're unreliable, and will never get you all of the available channels. Personally, I've had good luck with the Channel Master CM-4228HD. As I live in a major city, and am going directly into a single device, I didn't need a booster of any kind. Getting something like this roof installed will probably run you around $200 canadian, on top of the $200 for the antenna itself. But once it's up, it's up.

Streaming TV On Your Network

If you have an accessible smart TV, you could just plug your antenna directly into it and be done. But you wouldn't be able to watch on your phone or computer, record programs, or stream your TV remotely. In order to do these things, you'll need an HDHomeRun. The HDHomeRun is a little device that plugs into your TV antenna on one end, and ethernet on the other, and streams TV signals over your home network for other apps to consume. It includes support for captions, and all available audio channels (including audio description). It has an accessible web page allowing you to scan for channels and configure the device, and provides links to watch the channels it finds in media players like VLC or MPC-HC. If all you want is to watch live TV on your desktop, you're done!

Recording Programs and getting them on the actual TV

The last part of the puzzle is software called Channels. Channels is powerful software that takes the streams from the HDHomeRun, and provides a TV guide, allows recording programs, is easy to get on your TV, and lets you watch remotely. You can even add IPTV streams to channels if you know the link, and import your existing TV shows and movies. In order to run channels, you'll need aserver to record programs, and a device to interact with that server. Any old computer will do for a server; you can even use a raspberry pi or a NAS if you have one. The main thing to consider is that video is quite large, so you'll want at least 1 TB of storage. The most accessible way to get Channels on your TV is by installing the channels app on an Apple TV. Once you do, you can access everything it has to offer, including full support for captions and audio description. You can also install channels on your phone to watch on the go.

Sports

Unfortunately, sports content is usually not available on over the air broadcasts anymore. The best option I've found for reliable sports streaming is to get an XM Radio subscription. While it won't include picture, it's the easiest way to access all of the MLB/NHL/NFL/MLS games live. Watching sports online otherwise involves having subscriptions to multiple services with differing levels of accessibility, and you're likely to have multiple games blacked-out no matter how many subscriptions you have.

Movies

For newer movies, iTunes is your best bet. If they don't have captions or audio description, odds are they're not available. If you're looking for something older, you can put it in your Channels PVR, and it'll record it when and if the movie is ever broadcast in your area. As well, public libraries still rent out both DVDs and bluerays. This is a good way to access a movie for free, meaning you've lost nothing other than some time if the film turns out not to be accessible for you to actually watch.

Conclusion

Personally, I already had both an Apple TV and a server. So for just the cost of an antenna, an XM subscription, and a subscription to Apple Premium that I would be paying otherwise anyways, I have access to all of the TV shows, movies, and sports I want, in a way that's completely accessible, cheaper than cable, and doesn't come with the risks of piracy.