The FCC has further loosened the regulations on telecommunications relay services--specifically video relay services (VRS)--that help the deaf, hard of hearing, deaf/blind and with speech disabilities, to communicate.  

It said Friday (April 3) that it was temporarily waiving restrictions on hiring contractors for American Sign Language interpretation services. Eligible VRS providers are not allowed to subcontract with an entity that is not eligible. But the FCC said with increased traffic levels and employee absences do to COVID-19, there is a shortage of ASL interpreters to work as communications assistants. 

“It’s our duty to help ensure that VRS providers can continue to serve Americans with disabilities who rely on relay services to communicate,” said FCC chair Ajit Pai of the latest in a host of COVID-19 waivers the FCC has issued. “These extraordinary circumstances present unique challenges, and today’s temporary waiver gives providers flexibility to hire additional ASL interpreters to meet current service needs.” 

The waiver is effective immediately and extends until May 15. 

Driven by the widening coronavirus crisis, the FCC two weeks ago provided temporary waivers to help American Sign Language interpreters telework in order to maintain the telecommunications relay services (TRS)--in this case video relay service. 

The FCC also also provided waivers of other TRS rules to allow interpreters to continue to provide the services to hundreds of thousands of people who need them.   

The FCC is proposing to require 40 more markets (DMAs 61-100) to provide audio descriptions of video programming but also wants to know if the current pandemic changes any part of the equation. 

Per the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA), FCC rules currently require certain stations in the top 60 markets to provide that service to the blind and visually impaired. 

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking circulated by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to the other commissioners this week for a vote at the April 23 meeting would: 

• "Seek comment on whether we should account for the current coronavirus pandemic in evaluating the reasonableness of costs of expanding video description requirements to markets outside of the top 60, and in making a determination regarding the compliance deadline, and, if so, how. 
• "Start phasing in the new markets starting Jan. 2, 2021 at a rate of 10 markets per year for four years.
• "Propose that the Commission should determine in 2023 whether to continue expanding to an additional 10 DMAs per year, with any further expansion to be undertaken only following a future determination of the reasonableness of the associated costs.
• "Conclude, tentatively, that 'the costs of implementing the video description regulations in these markets are reasonable' because that would 'ensure that a greater number of individuals who are blind or visually impaired can be connected, informed, and entertained by television programming.'
• "Propose that, in determining which DMAs are subject to the video description requirements, the Commission should use an updated Nielsen determination rather than the current figures, which are from 2015."
• "Propose to modernize the terminology in part 79 of the Commission’s regulations to use the term 'audio description' rather than 'video description,' in accordance with a recent recommendation from the Commission’s Disability Advisory Committee."

People who are blind or otherwise visually impaired spend about as much time engaged with the TV as the general public, according to a study released by Comcast and the American Foundation for the Blind.

The study, conducted by Global Strategy Group and based on a survey last October and November of 626 visually-impaired adults, including 277 with “no function vision,”  found that the majority (55%) of that group watches four or more hours per day, and 81% do so for more than 1 hour per day.

The study also found that 96% of visually impaired adults spend time with TV on a regular basis, and that 53% said they experienced difficulty in following along with key visual elements. Less than half of those surveyed were aware of assistive technologies like video description and talking guides.

The use of video descriptions and talking guides is a key part of Comcast’s work around accessibility.

Of recent note, Comcast and NBCU have teamed with Descriptive Video Works to provide enhanced video descriptions for coverage of the Winter Games from PyeongChang.

RELALTED: NBC Olympics, Comcast to Offer Video Descriptions for Winter Olympics TV Coverage

In November 2014, Comcast introduced a “talking guide” feature for its X1 platform following a set of trials that were conducted earlier that year. When enabled, the feature reads aloud elements such as channel names, show titles, VOD settings and DVR commands as the customer navigates the guide with an X1 remote.

"It’s a myth to think that you can’t enjoy television just because you have a visual disability,” Tom Wlodkowski, vice president of accessibility for Comcast, who was born blind, said in a statement. “That’s why I’m proud that Comcast and NBC have become pioneers in making live entertainment and sporting events more accessible for millions of people like me. And when that content is complemented with the right technology, people with visual disabilities can have an end-to-end experience that is even more inclusive and entertaining.”

Comcast and AFB said results from the survey were weighted to correspond to national data about the visually impaired population, and was designed to be compatible with screen readers and screen magnifiers.

Hardly had the FCC had the FCC finished voting on its public meeting agenda items Thursday (June 22), but it was circulating the items for its July 13 meeting, which includes boosting video description and microphone use in the TV bands.

Fresh off a meeting where all seven votes were unanimous, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has teed up an eclectic mix, including tripling down on his efforts to prevent deceptive robocalls, demonstrated by the proposed record $120 million fine, one of the seven items voted at the meeting.

The agenda contained two more robocall-related items.

The issues of most interest to the broadcasting and cable crowd are a Report and Order increasing the required number of hours of video described programming on broadcast and MVPD services, and an Order on Reconsideration and a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the use of wireless mics, licensed and unlicensed, in the TV band and other bands.

Just where mics would call home after the broadcast incentive auction has been an ongoing issue.

The FCC last March approved a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking last March that expanded the number of hours required to be video described by the top five cable nets and top four broadcast nets from 50 to 87.5 hours per year, or a 75% increase, which is the maximum the statute allowed the FCC to bump it up at this time.

Under the rules, video description is only required of the top five nonbroadcast networks and the top four broadcast nets. But the item tentatively concludes that the requirement should be extended to the top 10 nonbroadcast networks as well, as well as the fifth largest broadcast network.

It is not clear how much the item will have changed since that vote under a Democratic chairman, but Chairman Ajit Pai dissented in part from the item, saying the FCC was not authorized to expand to 10 cable nets or five broadcast nets because that would be a much larger increase than the 75% increase in programming for the top five and four nets the law allows.

Pai signaled Thursday that the increase would, indeed, be that allowable 75%. "Specifically, we’ll vote on increasing the number of hours of programming that covered broadcasters and video programmers must provide by 75%," he blogged.

Pai also took issue with the proposal's requirement that ABC, CBS. NBC and Fox remain in the top five whether or not they fall out of the top five in the ratings. commissioner Michael O'Rielly agreed with Pai that the FCC was exceeding its authority by expanding the number of networks.

Rounding out the agenda are items on radar services, updating equipment certifications, an item on rural call completion, another on unauthorized carrier charges, and the two on robocalls, one exploring ways for consumers to avoid unwanted calls, the other on better authenticating calls.

The American Council of the Blind (ACB) has told the FCC that according to preliminary findings of a new study it is conducting, only 2% of respondents say they are getting enough audio-described programming from their broadcast and cable provider, while 47.7% strongly disagreed with the suggestion that they were.

ACB said the data showed "a clear and concise demand from consumers for more described programming, adding that 92% of respondents said they have relied on audio-described programming sometime in the past, though currently active users versus inactive users is about a 50/50 split.

That came in comments filed at the FCC on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), approved last March, to boost the amount of that programming and the number of networks required to provide it.

It is the FCC's latest step in implementing the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), something FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has made a priority in his efforts to promote universal communications access, in this case blind and sight-impaired viewers to the most popular video programming.

ACB also pointed to the disparity between captioned programming for the deaf--which is nearly ubiquitous--and audio descriptions for the blind (currently 50 hours per calendar quarter, with the FCC trying to expand it to 87.5 hours), calling it an "injustice when captioning can exceed such a wide breadth of coverage across broadcast channels,while the blindness community is relegated to a handful of hours each week during prime time."

At its annual convention, ACB adopted a resolution "echoing the direction" the FCC is taking in its NPRM.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has told the FCC that, per statute, it can't increase the number of networks required to provide video described programming for the blind and sight-impaired, can't apply the requirement to a top five network--or top 10 if another proposed FCC change is approved--after it has fallen out of that ranking (the so-called "no backsliding" provision), and should not apply it to video on demand--some MVPDs may not have the ability to pass through a secondary audio stream, for example.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has told the FCC that it cannot increase the number of networks required to provide video described programming for the blind and sight-impaired, cannot apply the requirement to a top five network--or top 10 if another proposed FCC change is approved--after it has falled out of that ranking (the so-called "no backsliding" provision), and should not apply it to video on demand--some MVPDs may not have the ability to pass through a secondary audio stream, for example.

That came in comments on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking approved in March over the partial dissents of Republicans. "Contrary to the assumptions embodied in the Notice, the Commission’s “continuing authority ” to adopt additional video description requirements of any kind is carefully constrained and specifically delimited," NCTA said.

That March vote was the latest step in implementing the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), something FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has made a priority in his efforts to promote universal communications access, in this case blind and sight-impaired viewers to the most popular video programming.

The item expands the number of hours required to be video described by the top five cable nets and top four broadcast nets from 50 to 87.5 hours per year, or a 75% increase, which is the maximum the statute allowed the FCC to bump it up at this time. Under the rules, video description is only required of the top five nonbroadcast networks and the top four broadcast nets. But the item tentatively concludes that the requirement should be extended to the top 10 nonbroadcast networks, as well as the fifth largest broadcast network.

FCC commissioner Ajit Pai dissented in part, saying the FCC was not authorized to expand to 10 cable nets or five broadcast nets because that would be a much larger increase than the 75% increase in programming for the top five and four nets the law allows. Pai also took issue with the proposal's requirement that networks remain covered even if they fall out of the top rankings, which would be a potential additional expansion. Commissioner Michael O'Rielly agreed with Pai that the FCC was exceeding its authority by expanding the number of networks.

NCTA says the law clearly limits the number of top networks video description can be applied to, providing the FCC the discretion only to increase the number of hours of described programming on the top five networks.

The trade group says that applying the "no backsliding" rule means the FCC would mean that once a programmer made it into the top five (or 10), it would be subject to rules regardless of changed circumstances.

"Requiring a network that has slipped out of the top five (or ten if the proposed rules are adopted) to continue to shoulder the same financial costs of creating new video-described programming as its more highly-rated and financially successful peers would be unfair," it said.

On applying the regs to VOD, NCTA said: "Given the significant differences in programming offered on VOD versus linear programming," NCTA said, "a requirement to describe VOD programming that was provided on a linear basis with descriptions would be burdensome...Any such requirement would involve solving complex technical and rights issues that would involve a number of stakeholders, including movie studios, program networks, program aggregators, MVPDs, and others.  The Commission should refrain from applying video description obligations to programs offered on VOD."

The FCC is proposing to expand its video description requirements to the top ten cable nets.

It is the FCC's latest step in implementing the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), something FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has made a priority in his efforts to promote universal communications access, in this case blind and sight-impaired viewers to the most popular video programming.

The item expands the number of hours required to be video described by the top five cable nets and top four broadcast nets from 50 to 87.5 hours per calendar quarter, or a 75% increase, which is the maximum the statute allowed the FCC to bump it up at this time.

Under the rules, video description is only required of the top five nonbroadcast networks and the top four broadcast nets. But the item tentatively concludes that the requirement should be extended to the top 10 nonbroadcast networks as well, as well as the fifth largest broadcast network.

FCC commissioner Ajit Pai dissented in part, saying the FCC was not authorized to expand to 10 cable nets or five broadcast nets because that would be a much larger increase than the 75% increase in programming for the top five and four nets the law allows.

Pai also took issue with the proposal's requirement that ABC, CBS. NBC and Fox remain in the top five whether or not they fall out of the top five in the ratings. commissioner Michael O'Rielly agreed with Pai that the FCC was exceeding its authority by expanding the number of networks.

The item is a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, so the industry will have a chance to comment on that proposed expansion before a final order is voted.

Billing it as a first for a live entertainment broadcast show in the U.S., Comcast said it will include video descriptions with NBC’s production of The Wiz Live!, an element that will make the show accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired.

During NBC’s live broadcast, set to start Thursday, Dec. 3 (also the International Day of Persons with Disabilities) at 8 p.m. ET, the video description component will provide a narration track that’s included between the natural pauses in dialogue that describes visual elements of show, such as facial expressions, settings, information about costumes, and stage direction (this brief video offers a more thorough explanation).

Comcast and NBC, which are partnering with Descriptive Video Works, said the described broadcast of The Wiz Live! is a national pilot program that will be available wherever SAP (secondary audio program) feeds are available.

“Comcast’s commitment to include video description with the performance of The Wiz Live! is ground-breaking," said Kim Charlson, president of The American Council of the Blind (ACB). "The path to accessibility is a journey of inclusion of all audiences. Just like the yellow brick road is the path to the heartfelt wishes of Dorothy and her friends, the blindness community is very happy to travel on this new path with Comcast and NBC."

The effort follows other features and technologies Comcast has launched to help make its video service more accessible to people with disabilities, including a “talking guide” for its X1 platform, a voice-enabled TV menu and interface, and a voice-controlled remote control.

"The combination of accessible content and technology is powerful," said Tom Wlodkowski, Comcast’s vice president of accessibility, who noted in this blog post that live description is usually reserved for events like Inaugural Addresses.  "We’re working hard every day to make a positive impact in the lives of millions of customers by making our products and services more accessible and opening new doors to independence for people with disabilities. The broadcast of The Wiz Live! represents a real milestone in how people with visual impairments experience television."

"Earlier this year, I attended a theater production of The Wiz and without description, found it very difficult to follow the characters and action of the play," said Carl Augusto, CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind. "This nationally described television broadcast will not only be a godsend to people with vision loss, but also to those who describe action to people with vision loss, and the general public, who will learn about the importance of audio description."