[il-talk] FCC Reinstates Video Description Programming

[Hap Holly]

*Here's some good news for a change.*


The U.S. government is reinstating a rule requiring video description
programming by large-market broadcast affiliates of the top four national
networks,

and multichannel video programming distributor systems (MVPDS) with more
than 50,000 subscribers.



On Sept. 8, the Federal Communications Commission posted a Federal Register
Notice-Video Description: Implementation of the Twenty-First Century
Communications

and Video Accessibility Act of 2010-which says this order reinstates the
video description rules adopted by the commission in 2000.



"Video description" is the insertion of audio narrated descriptions of a
television program's key visual elements into natural pauses in the
program's dialogue,

which makes video programming more accessible to individuals who are blind
or visually impaired, the notice says.



The FCC's order reinstates the requirement that large-market broadcast
affiliates of the top four national networks, and MVPDS with more than
50,000 subscribers,

provide video description.



The order also reinstates the requirement that all network-affiliated
broadcasters (commercial or non-commercial) and all MVPDS pass through any
video description

provided with network programming they carry, to the extent that they are
technically capable of doing so and when that technical capability is not
being

used for another purpose related to the programming.



The FCC originally adopted video description regulations in 2000, but the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the video
description

rules on the grounds the FCC had insufficient authority to impose such
regulations, according to the commission. However, the Twenty-First Century
Communications

and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-260) directs the FCC to
reinstate those rules with certain modifications. The new video description
rule

becomes effective Oct. 11, 2011, with Oct. 1, 2012 as the final compliance
date.

FCC Reinstates Video Description Programming,