PITTSBURGH—Significant strides have been made with video description services that are available to the blind and visually impaired says the American Cable Association in a filing with the FCC. However, the ACA does not believe certain new regulations on MVPD are necessary, and potential rule changes to smaller MVPDs should align with existing compliance deadlines. ACA’s comments were in response to an FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on expanding the ability of, and support customer access to, video described programming.
“Given the success of the existing video description program under the existing regulatory regime, and the continuing voluntary efforts on the part of the industry to improve service and make video description more widely available, the FCC need not adopt some of its proposed rules, particularly those applicable to smaller MVPDs,” said Matthew M. Polka, ACA president and CEO. “If the FCC does adopt any new requirements, aligning the compliance deadlines with the deadline for small operators to comply with the requirement to provide audibly accessible video navigation devices will help minimize confusion and administrative costs.”
Under the current rule, MVPDs with under 400,000 or fewer subscribers (as of 2012) and MVPD systems with 20,000 or fewer subscribers that are not affiliated with an operator serving more than 10 percent of all MVPD subscribers (as of 2012) must come into compliance by Dec. 20, 2018.
To read ACA’s full comments, click here.
