[Greater-Baltimore] "The Wiz Live" to air with video description

[Danielsen, Chris]

Hello everyone:

I was just alerted to this by a contact at Comcast. NBC's annual live musical, which this year is "The Wiz," will air with video description for the first time. NBC and Comcast claim this is the first live broadcast with description, although I'm not sure that's true; I seem to remember PBS broadcasts of some presidential inaugurations having this service. Nonetheless I think this Is a worthy effort and thought you might wish to know about it. WBAL Channel 11 from Baltimore does carry the video description signal over the air, and a signal with video description is also available on Comcast Channel 811, although I'm not sure it's available on Channel 21, the non-HD channel. If you have Comcast's accessible X1 box with voice guidance, you can independently turn on video description in the Settings menu under Accessibility. Comcast has information about this on its website and you can call its customer service line for customers with disabilities; that number is 855-270-0379. If you don't have the voice guidance feature, or a television with an accessible way of accessing the Second Audio Program on which video description airs, you will need to get someone to help you activate this feature. You will not hear the description unless your TV or cable box is set to receive it. If you DVR the program with the Comcast X1 system, you can access the video description in the recorded program as described above. The program may become available on-demand, but on-demand offerings don't seem to carry the description track (an issue I'm taking up with Comcast), so I suggest the DVR option if you won't be able to watch the program at airtime. I hope you find this information useful. More information about the program is below.

Chris


NEW YORK (AP) - When "The Wiz Live!" airs on NBC this Thursday, it will come alive for the blind with a voiced description of the broadcast's sights and action integrated into its soundtrack.

NBC parent Comcast says this will be the first live entertainment program in U.S. history to be accessible in this way to those who are blind. The vocal description is a narration track interspersed between existing pauses in dialogue that describes the show's visual elements such as facial expressions, settings, costumes and stage direction.

This enhanced broadcast of "The Wiz Live!" will be a pilot program available on local NBC stations where SAP (Second Audio Program) feeds are available. The service will be provided by Descriptive Video Works, which has provided more than 1,000 hours of live description for certain news and sports events.

"The Wiz Live!" premieres Thursday at 8 p.m. EST, with stars including Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, David Alan Grier, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Uzo Aduba and Common, as well as Shanice Williams as the young heroine, Dorothy.
http://news.yahoo.com/wiz-live-air-vocal-description-sight-impaired-175457242.html;_ylt=A0LEV7xX4V1WgR0AiQhjmolQ

Christopher S. Danielsen, J.D.
Director of Public Relations
National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
Office: (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
Mobile: (410) 262-1281
Email: cdanielsen at nfb.org<mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>
Twitter: @rlawyer and @NFB_Voice