FCC Seeks Comment on Video Description in Video Programming Distributed on Television and on the Internet

The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau seeks comment on video description of video programming that is delivered via both television and the Internet.

Pursuant to the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (“CVAA”), the FCC released a Report and Order on August 25, 2011 reinstating the video description rules previously vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Under the reinstated rules, certain television broadcast stations and MVPDs have an obligation to provide video description for a portion of the video programming that they offer to consumers. Video description is “[t]he insertion of audio narrated descriptions of a television program’s key visual elements into natural pauses between the program’s dialogue.” It makes video programming accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired. The Media Bureau seeks comment on specific inquiries related to video description in video programming that is delivered via both television and the Internet, as the CVAA requires.

The comments received in response to these inquiries will inform a report to Congress required by the CVAA on the status, benefits, and costs of video description on television and Internet-provided video programming, which must be completed no later than July 1, 2014.