[nabs-l] Audio Description

Sat Jun 16 23:55:21 UTC 2012

How easy or difficult it will be to access will depend on your provider and the hardware your using. In Canada, there are a couple of providers that have made it quite easy to access (e.g., one button on a remote). This has meant they often receive complaints from people who have accidentally turned it on and do not know how to turn it off. To avoid this, others have set it up so that you have to hold two buttons down for several seconds. Easy enough to do if that's what you want to do, but not likely something you'll do accidentally.

However, there are still many providers up here that require a person to go fairly deep into a menu structure without any audio feedback whatsoever. If you wrote down the steps or performed them regularly, it would be possible to turn on and off DV, but it's not a very accessible process.

All of that said, the process will eventually become more accessible as a result of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. Eventually, there will be regulations that require it to be an accessible process. Though that could technically be 3 to 5 years out. I'm hoping it's sooner because the technology we use in Canada is the same as you use in the US. In the UK and Australia, they have already made available a talking set top box. The accessible technology is available, there just doesn't seem to have been a serious push for it in the states.

Best,

Marc
On 2012-06-16, at 4:02 PM, Arielle Silverman wrote:

> This is nice, but how does a blind viewer activate the description on
> his or her TV? If there's a feature that has to be turned on or off,
> possibly set for each show, is this feature accessible? I suspect that
> oftentimes it's not, which in my view negates the whole purpose of
> this initiative. It'd be a real shame if networks were spending
> thousands of dollars on a service that blind viewers could not
> activate or customize without sighted assistance!
> I recall when I was still living at home-in middle or high school,
> perhaps-there were one or two shows that had an optional
> audio-description feature, but I don't think I could reliably turn it
> on without sighted assistance. That would have been in the late
> 1990's, and TV sets have become infinitely more complex since then.
> I hope I'm wrong and the activation process does not rely on menus or
> touch-screen inputs.
> Arielle
> 
> On 6/15/12, Jewel <herekittykat2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Do I need anything to get this? I look forward to described shows
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On Jun 15, 2012, at 6:05 AM, David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> Beginning July 1, ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, plus the top five cable networks
>>> will begin providing audio descriptions of some of their programming for
>>> blind or sight-impaired viewers. The shows to be described range from
>>> ABC's Modern Family to CBS's NCIS to Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer to
>>> USA's Royal Pains.
>>> 
>>> For now, stations in the top 25 markets and cable systems with 50,000 or
>>> more subs will be required to offer about four hours a week of the new
>>> service. The number of stations and hours will gradually increase.
>>> 
>>> Starting July 1, the country’s 21.5 million visually impaired people will
>>> be able to enjoy TV more than ever before.
>>> 
>>> On that day, the Big Four broadcast networks and the top five-rated cable
>>> networks will begin offering four hours a week of so-called video
>>> descriptions that clue in blind and partially sighted viewers on what's
>>> going on when the characters aren't talking. The descriptions, audible
>>> only to viewers who want them to be audible, are squeezed in between the
>>> dialog.
>>> 
>>> Video descriptions have been part of broadcasting, cable, home video, but
>>> never to the extent on TV as they will be beginning next month.
>>> 
>>> It's not altruism driving the surge in descriptions. They were mandated by
>>> Congress in the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of
>>> 2010.
>>> 
>>> According to the FCC's implementing rules, the Big Four O&Os and
>>> affiliates in the top 25 markets will have to air 50 hours each quarter 
>>> or roughly four hours a week  of described programming.
>>> 
>>> Cable and satellite systems with at least 50,000 subscribers have to offer
>>> the same amount of described programming for the top five-rated cable
>>> networks  currently Disney, Nickelodeon, TBS, TNT and USA.
>>> 
>>> And with just weeks to go before the deadline, the described programming
>>> plans of nine affected networks are shaping up.
>>> 
>>> ABC’s plan is to provide descriptions on some of its Tuesday and Wednesday
>>> shows. This summer, those shows include sitcoms Last Man Standing, The
>>> Middle, Suburgatory, Modern Family, Happy Endings and Don't Trust the
>>> B---- in Apt. 23.
>>> 
>>> In the fall, ABC will likely include most of those shows and new sitcom
>>> The Neighbors and new drama Nashville.
>>> 
>>> CBS has been providing audio descriptions for several programs since 2002.
>>> The lineup is CSI, Criminal Minds, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, plus movies
>>> and miniseries.
>>> 
>>> NBC has broadcast a slew of shows with descriptions, including the Betty
>>> White reality show Off Their Rockers, drama Grimm and the summer series
>>> Saving Hope. Described sitcoms include The Office, Up All Night and Parks
>>> and Recreation.
>>> 
>>> At Fox, The Simpsons has been audio described for several years. Beyond
>>> the animated sitcom, Fox isn't prepared to say what it would be offering.
>>> 
>>> Disney Channel's described shows will include hit sitcoms Jessie, A.N.T.
>>> Farm and the animated Phineas and Ferb.
>>> 
>>> Nickelodeon will offer descriptions for some of its biggest hits, like the
>>> long-running animated Dora the Explorer and preschool educational show
>>> Team Umizoomi.
>>> 
>>> Turner Broadcasting will have described movies as well as TV series. Among
>>> the series: TNT’s The Closer and TBS’s Tyler Perry comedies House of Payne
>>> and For Better or Worse.
>>> 
>>> USA’s described programs will include off-network shows NCIS and Law &
>>> Order: SVU, plus originals like Royal Pains and Suits.
>>> 
>>> “My hope is that more and more networks will embrace these accessibility
>>> initiatives,” says Joel Snyder, president of Audio Description Associates.
>>> He serves as director of the American Council of the Blind’s audio
>>> description project and is an adviser to the FCC.
>>> 
>>> “If they do it right, they'll find ways to make money from it. If they
>>> make their shows accessible to these folks, there is a bigger market for
>>> advertisers to sell their products.”
>>> 
>>> For the most part, video-described programs won't include live shows or
>>> news. The networks, which are providing most of this content to their
>>> affiliates, need time to write description scripts for voice artists to
>>> record.
>>> 
>>> “It takes longer to get that done than closed captioning,” says one
>>> network executive. “It also requires us to look at how our post-production
>>> schedules are set up. We have to work very closely with the folks at the
>>> post-production houses to make sure we get the programming to our vendors
>>> with sufficient time to get the video description correct.”
>>> 
>>> Producing the descriptions costs between $2,000 to $4,000 per hour.
>>> 
>>> The networks and some associations for the blind are helping to ensure
>>> that people with vision problems know that descriptions are coming.
>>> 
>>> “It’s great for the networks to comply, but what’s more important is
>>> getting the information out to folks,” says Helena Berger, EVP-COO of the
>>> American Association of People with Disabilities. She is also a member of
>>> Comcast-NBCUniversal’s joint diversity council.
>>> 
>>> “What we can do on our end at AAPD is to use our communication channels,
>>> like our newsletter, our website and social media to get the word out to
>>> the community.”
>>> 
>>> Some of the networks are creating logos and audio tones so that people
>>> with vision problems know when a program has audio descriptions. So far,
>>> there isn't an industry standard.
>>> 
>>> And TV listing providers like Tribune Media Services will provide data to
>>> programming services to let them know if a program is audio-described.
>>> Then, it’s up to individual cable systems to add symbols or sounds to
>>> their on-screen listings.
>>> 
>>> These described programs are the culmination of a 12-year battle by the
>>> FCC and groups such as the Audio Description Institute. They thought they
>>> had won the battle in 2000 when the FCC adopted rules similar to the 2010
>>> act, but a court agreed with broadcasters that the agency had overstepped
>>> its authority.
>>> 
>>> Now backed by law, the new FCC rules gradually expand the description
>>> obligations to other TV stations. By July 1, 2015, major network
>>> affiliates in the top 60 markets will have to broadcast the descriptions.
>>> The FCC may require additional stations to air descriptions at a rate of
>>> 10 markets a year if it deems the cost is reasonable.
>>> 
>>> According to broadcasters, it costs stations anywhere from $10,000 and
>>> $25,000 to install the gear necessary to handle the extra audio channel.
>>> 
>>> Just because someone has a disability doesn't mean they don't want to be
>>> included in life,” says Debra Ruh, chief marketing officer at SSB Bart
>>> Group, a firm that helps companies make their computer services and
>>> websites fully compliant and accessible to people with disabilities. “Part
>>> of participating in life is being able to experience television. TV is a
>>> very important part of our culture.”
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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