[Ohio-talk] Better access for TV and cable coming

[Sammons, Elizabeth]

FCC Gives Industry Nine Months to Implement Video Descriptions  Requires captioning of any online video that is closed-captioned on TV  By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/25/2011 10:51:03 AM

 

            

 

The FCC has decided to give broadcasters and cable operators nine months,  rather than a year, to have their new video description regimes in place.

 According to an aide to one of the commissioners, it will release the 4-0  order Thursday with ground rules for the regime. While the industry had  asked for a year and the FCC had initially said it proposed giving them  until Oct. 1, 2012 to implement it, they decided instead to set the deadline  at July 1, 2012.

 The commission is under a deadline itself since Congress gave it until Oct.

8, 2011 to have the video description rules in place.

 The rules implement the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video  Accessibility Act, which requires the captioning of any online video that is  closed-captioned on TV, and asks the FCC to study captioning of Web-original  video. It also requires smartphones and other mobile devices to be  accessible to the disabled, if that is achievable, and restores the FCC's  video description rules thrown out by the courts in 2002.

 The FCC order addresses some of the concerns of small cable operators,  providing technical exemptions and clarifying that only systems with at  least 50,000 subs in a market will be required to pass through the video  descriptions.

 Commissioner Michael Copps, for one, was pleased with the shortened  timetable, though he would have given the industry even less time. "With a  July 1, 2012 deadline the full expectation is that the necessary pieces will  be in place to seamlessly provide video description.... Although I would  have preferred and I am not convinced it would be too burdensome on  companies to comply even earlier, I am pleased that the Chairman and my  colleagues have moved up the timeline to support the long-delayed hopes of  Americans with disabilities. Given the delay experienced by blind and  visually impaired viewers for such an essential service we should be doing  everything in our power to make sure they don't wait a day more than is  necessary," he said in a statement in advance of the item's release.

 Copps also gave props to CBS, Fox and TNT for their past video description  efforts absent the FCC's rules.

 He also gave props to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn for her work on the issue.

"In providing video description, America's blind community will not only be  able to enjoy the entertainment that video content providers offer, but they  will also be part of the conversations around it," said Clyburn. "I want to  stress this, as I can imagine how left out a visually impaired child feels  when his or her classmates are discussing what happened on a popular show  the night before, and to not be a part of that conversation or be able to  follow along. The same is true for blind adults, for whom the proverbial  water cooler chats about TV shows hold little meaning or enjoyment."

 

 

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