“This page is a digitally archived AccessInfo Announcement”
Comments Due: April 2, 2015
Reply Comments Due: April 9, 2015
To implement the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA), the FCC adopted rules in April 2013 to make emergency information that is conveyed visually during a television program that is not a newscast, such as emergency information conveyed in a text crawl, accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired. The FCC’s rules require the use of the secondary audio stream to convey this televised emergency information aurally. An aural tone will continue to alert consumers to the presence of an emergency situation, and give them an opportunity to switch to the secondary audio stream to hear the emergency information. Compliance with the FCC’s new rules is required by May 26, 2015.
On March 18, 2015, the American Cable Association (ACA) filed a petition for a waiver from the new accessible emergency information rules for some of its member companies that have hybrid digital/analog systems or analog-only systems that do not have the equipment needed to pass through secondary audio streams on their analog service. ACA proposes an alternative for their digital/analog system subscribers and requests a waiver until June 2018 for their analog-only systems.
On March 19, 2015, the Media Bureau released a Public Notice that summarizes the waiver request and establishes comment periods. Comments are due by April 2, 2015, and reply comments are due by April 9, 2015.
Link to the ACA petition: http://apps.fcc.go/ecfs/document/view?id=60001040830.
For more information, contact Maria Mullarkey in the Media Bureau at (202) 418-2120 or Maria.Mullarkey@fcc.gov.