Media Bureau Grants ESPN Exemption From Video Description Rules
The FCC Media Bureau granted ESPN’s request for exemption from video description rules that are applicable to the top five national nonbroadcast networks, the bureau said in an order and public notice Friday in docket 11-43. The top five national…
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nonbroadcast networks are defined by an average of the national audience share during prime time of nonbroadcast networks that reach 50 percent or more of multichannel video programming distributor households and have at least 50 hours per quarter of prime time programming that isn't live or near-live or exempt from the video description rules, the bureau said. MVPD systems that serve 50,000 or more subscribers have to provide 50 hours of video description per calendar quarter during prime time or children’s programming for these networks, as of July 1, the bureau said. ESPN provides less than 50 hours per calendar quarter of prime time programming that isn’t live or near-live, it said. After ESPN’s exemption, the top five nonbroadcast networks that are subject to the video description requirements are Disney Channel, History, TBS Network, Turner Network Television and USA Network, it said.