video description rule

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July is usually a month of family vacations and patriotic celebrations.  While the pandemic has seen to it that those activities, if they happen at all, will look different than they have in years past, there are plenty of regulatory obligations to fill a broadcaster’s long, summer days.  Here are a few of the dates and deadlines to watch for in July, and a quick reminder of some of the significant filings due right at the beginning of August.

On or before July 10, all TV and radio stations must upload to their public file their Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists for the 2nd quarter (April, May and June).  Stations that took advantage of the FCC’s extension of time to file their 1st quarter (January, February and March) list must also by July 10 upload that list to their public file.  As a reminder, the Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists are a station’s evidence of how it operated in the public interest, demonstrating its treatment of its community’s most significant issues.  The FCC has shown (see here and here) that it takes this requirement seriously and will fine stations, hold up license renewals, or both if it finds problems with a station’s compliance.  For a short video on complying with the Quarterly Issues/Programs List requirement, see here.
Continue Reading July Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: End of the TV Repacking, Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, Children’s Television Reporting, EEO, Carriage Election Public File Information Deadline, LPTV Settlement Window, Rulemaking Comments and More

The FCC currently requires what they now call “video description” by commercial television broadcast stations that are affiliated with one of the top four commercial television broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC) and located in the top 60 television markets.  Video description is also required of MVPDs with 50,000 or more subscribers passing through content of the Top 5 cable networks.  TV stations subject to the rules are required to provide on a subchannel audio descriptions of at least 50 hours of video programming per calendar quarter during prime time or on children’s programming, as well as an additional 37.5 hours of video-described programming per calendar quarter at any time between 6 a.m. and midnight.  These descriptions are provided by the networks and passed through by the local station affiliates to allow the blind and visually impaired people to follow the action in video programming on their TVs.

In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted in April, the FCC proposes to expand the video description requirements to network-affiliated stations in television markets 61 through 100 starting January 1, 2021, followed by an additional 10 TV markets each year for the next four years.  This proposal was just published in the Federal Register, setting a deadline for the filing of comments of June 22, 2020, with reply comments due by July 6, 2020.
Continue Reading Comments Dates Set on Proposals to Expand Video Description Requirements of TV Stations and MVPDs

Yesterday, the FCC released its Report and Order (available here) reinstating its “video description” rules, which require that certain broadcast stations and nonbroadcast networks provide audio narration of the action depicted in the video portion of the television programming.  The Commission originally adopted such rules back in 2000, but they were subsequently vacated by the D.C. Court of Appeals for lack of sufficient authority.  This past year, Congress rectified that lack of authority by enacting the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), which was signed into law last October. DWT previously discussed the FCC’s rulemaking to reinstate the video description rules back in March (available here), and has now released a further advisory on the newly adopted rules available here.

In a nutshell, the rules require large-market broadcast affiliates of the top four national networks, and cable operators and DBS providers with more than 50,000 subscribers, to provide programming with audio-narrated descriptions of a program’s key visual elements, beginning mid-2012. While the FCC originally proposed to require full compliance by Jan. 1, 2012, the R&O pushes that date back six months, to July 1, 2012.  Highlights  of the reinstated video description rules are as follows:

  • Broadcast affiliates of the top four national networks—ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC—located in the top 25 television markets as determined by Nielsen as of Jan. 1, 2011, must provide 50 hours per calendar quarter of prime-time and/or children’s programming with video descriptions. 
  • The list of the top 25 television markets are those determined by Nielsen as of Jan. 1, 2011. To the extent a station in a top 25 market becomes newly affiliated with a top-four network, it must start providing video description in the same manner as current ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC affiliates in the top 25 markets, beginning no later than three months after finalizing the new affiliation agreement.
  • Going forward, the video description requirements will extend to major network broadcast affiliates in the top 60 markets beginning July 1, 2015. Rankings for the top 60 markets at that time will be based on Nielsen ratings as of Jan. 1, 2015. 

Continue Reading FCC Releases Order Reinstating Television Video Description Rules