Although industry has “largely complied” with the FCC...
Although industry has “largely complied” with the FCC 2011 video description rules, consumers need increased availability and easier access to the service, said a Media Bureau report to Congress on video descriptions Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1vsrMlJ). Required by the 21st Century Video…
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Accessibility Act, the report measures the current state of video description and explores the possibilities for providing description for video delivered over IP. The bureau doesn’t have enough information to estimate the costs to industry of providing IP video description, but “will continue to monitor developments on this front,” the report said. “We hope that industry will take the initiative to develop standards and work toward providing video description of IP-delivered programming.” On TV, consumers believe there’s a minimal amount of video described content, the report said. Top-four network affiliates in the 25 largest markets are required to provide 50 hours per quarter of video-described primetime or kids’ programming, and pay-TV providers with 50,000 or more subscribers have similar requirements, the report said. Some consumer concerns about availability could be addressed next July, when top-four network affiliates in the 26th through 60th markets will have to provide the service, the report said. If the commission decides “the need for and benefits of providing video description for television programming outweigh the technical and economic costs,” the FCC has authority two years after issuing the video description report to increase the requirement by up to 75 percent, said the bureau. Companies providing video description should coordinate with program guide providers to make sure it’s clear what programs feature video description, and train customer service staff to answer questions about the service, it said. “Costs of video description are consistent with the expectations of industry at the time of rule adoption, and covered entities do not indicate that the costs of video description have impeded their ability to comply with the video description rules."