Paying for Video Description

Legislation moving through Congress would require the Big Four broadcast networks and their affiliates in the top 25 markets to provide four hours per week of primetime and children's programming with video descriptions which aids viewing for the visually impaired.

The numbers rise over time, to seven hours after four years and the top 60 markets after six years. After 10 years, the FCC would be authorized to extend video description duties to up to 10 additional markets each year until all 210 markets are covered. (The tougher House bill would require all stations to offer descriptions after six years.) The legislation also require local TV broadcasters to make emergency crawls audible to the blind in the top 60 DMAs, but would otherwise exempt live or near-live programming. The nation's top five cable TV networks would also have to provide the service. Video descriptions enhance programming for the nation's 25 million blind and visually impaired by describing characters and action between the dialog in programming. Just like foreign-language soundtracks, descriptions constitute their own audio channel. Advocates for the blind have been fighting for descriptions for years and they thought they had won the battle in 2000 when the FCC adopted rules similar to the pending legislation. But the parties that would have had borne the cost of the service -- broadcasters and program producers -- challenged the FCC's authority to mandate it. A federal appeals court agreed and threw out the rules in 2002. With the exception of CBS, commercial broadcasters have mostly failed to provide descriptions on a voluntary basis.