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Reminder – Video Description Requirements Begin on July 1, 2012 Beginning on July 1, 2012, full-power affiliates of the top four national networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) located in the top 25 markets (based on the January 1, 2011 Nielsen ratings) must provide 50 hours per calendar quarter (about 4 hours per week) of video-described prime time and/or children’s programming. Video description is the insertion of audio-narration of a television program’s key visual elements into natural pauses in the program’s dialogue. Video description is intended to make video programming more accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired. (See TV TechCheck from 08/29/2011) Last August, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) released an Order reinstating the video description rules initially adopted by the FCC in 2000. The FCC’s original Video Description Rules were vacated by U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on the grounds that the FCC did not have the authority to make those rules. On October 8, 2010 Congress passed the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (“CVAA”) which directed the FCC to reinstate the previous video description rules, with certain modifications within one year of the CVAA effective date. (See TV TechCheck from 10/11/2010). The modified Video Description rules were reinstated on October 8, 2011. Video Description is sent as a second program audio service carried in a DTV station’s broadcast. Stations must have the ability to acquire the additional program audio carrying the Video Description track from their network and have the infrastructure in place in their plant to support the routing, encoding and transmission of an additional audio service. Stations that currently broadcast second language (e.g. Spanish) on an additional audio service already should have this infrastructure in place. The FCC has stated that second language and Video Description may share this additional audio service. Key Elements A copy of the R&O is available here on the FCC Web page. Reminder: June 30 EAS CAP Deadline No later than June 30, 2012, all broadcast stations must have CAP capable EAS equipment installed and operating in their facilities. FCC rule 11.56 requires all broadcasters to have equipment installed and operating that can receive and decode National Level (federal) Emergency messages (EANs) encoded in the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) format. The original CAP compliance deadline was March 31, 2011. In response to a petition filed by NAB and others, the FCC extended that deadline to September 30 2011. On Friday September 16, 2011, the FCC released an order further extending the deadline to June 30, 2012. This requirement was reaffirmed in the most recent FCC EAS Report and Order released January 10, 2012 (Fifth Report and Order in EB Docket No. 04-296 – “5th R&O”). The rules adopted in the 5th R&O also require broadcasters to interface with and monitor FEMA’s Integrated public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) server for those federal CAP-formatted EAS messages. However, because IPAWS monitoring will be largely conducted via an Internet connection, the FCC will consider, on a case by case basis, applications for waivers from this monitoring requirement based on the physical lack of availability of broadband. The 5th R&O is available here. The order extending the Cap compliance deadline is here. IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Issues Call for Papers
The submission deadline for abstracts has been extended to May 31, 2012. Visit the symposium website for additional information. This Symposium is produced by the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society. |
A
Call for Papers has been issued for the 2012 IEEE Broadcast Symposium,
to be held October 17-19, 2012, in Alexandria, Va. The Symposium
Committee seeks timely and relevant technical papers relating to
all aspects of broadcast technology, in particular on the following
topics:|
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