FCC Video Description Plan May Spark Debate
At Thursday’s Open Meeting, the FCC tentatively concluded that the substantial benefits of adopting additional video description requirements would outweigh the costs of the proposed requirements, and therefore adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking recommending an update to and expansion of its video description rules. The text of the NPRM and comment deadlines have yet to be released, but it’s already sounding like the FCC will be in for a lively debate.
The commission moves to expand the amount of, and access to, video-described programming for the benefit of the blind or visually impaired to include the top 10 cable networks and seeks comments on how to make it easier to access. It approves the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and seeks comments from the public. Commissioners Pai and O’Reilly say the plan to increase the number of hours and networks included exceeds the FCC’s authority.
Stations Should Embrace TV For The Blind
Now that Congress has mandated that stations provide audio descriptions for blind and sight-impaired viewers, broadcasters should stop fighting it. I get it. Nobody likes to be told what to do by the government. But this is an instance where broadcasters are being told to do something that they ought to have been doing anyway. So accept it and, in the great spirit and tradition of broadcasting, make the most of it.
Litton Entertainment today announced a partnership with New York based Bridge Multimedia to provide the incorporation of video description in the first 26 episodes of Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin, […]
