“This page is a digitally archived AccessInfo Announcement”
On May 17, 2018, the FCC’s Media Bureau released an Order and Public Notice taking the following actions:
- Granted a request by ESPN, MSNBC, and Fox News to be excluded from the list of networks that must provide video description because they do not air at least 50 hours of prime time programming that is not live or near live per calendar quarter;
- Updated the top five nonbroadcast networks that will be subject to the FCC’s video description requirements, which as of July 1, 2018, will be USA, HGTV, TBS, Discovery, and History; and
- Remind covered broadcast stations (ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC) and multichannel video programming distributors that, as of July 1, 2018, they must provide 87.5 hours of video description per calendar quarter on each included network that they carry.
Links to Order and Public Notice:
Word: https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-18-508A1.docx
PDF: https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-18-508A1.pdf
Text: https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-18-508A1.txt
For more information about video description, please visit: https://www.fcc.gov/general/video-description. For specific questions, please contact Maria Mullarkey at (202) 418-2120 or Maria.Mullarkey@fcc.gov. For those using videophones and fluent in American Sign Language, you may call the ASL Consumer Support Line at 844‐432‐2275.