Abstract: An apparatus for providing described television services includes a receiver for receiving description data corresponding to an audiovisual program; a text-to-speech converter for converting the description data into a speech signal corresponding to the description data; a memory device for receiving and storing the speech signal and a corresponding time code from the audiovisual program; a mixing circuit for retrieving the speech signal from the memory device and mixing the retrieved speech signal with the audio track of the audiovisual program to produce a combined audio signal; and a transmitter for simultaneously providing the combined speech signal and the audiovisual program to a viewer. The apparatus provides the combined speech signal to the viewer via the SAP channel. The apparatus may also include a translator for translating the description data into a foreign language prior to converting the description data into the speech signal.