The FCC's recent item proposing the adoption of video description rules was published in the Federal Register today setting the deadline for Comments in the proceeding as April 18th, with Reply Comments due by May 17th. As we wrote about recently (here), the FCC has initiated a rule making proceeding to reinstate its prior video description rules with certain modifications, as required by the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (Act). The proposed rules would require large market broadcast affiliates of the top four national networks and most cable operators and DBS providers to provide programming with audio narrated descriptions of a television program’s key visual elements beginning as soon as first quarter 2012. Davis Wright Tremaine previously summarized the Act in our earlier advisory.
Please see full publication below for more information.