FCC Approves Expanded Video Description NPRM
The FCC voted to seek comment on expanding the scope of its video description requirements, with Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly approving in part and dissenting in part because they said the proposal exceeds the FCC's authority. As expected, the NPRM asks for comment on increasing both the number of hours of described video required (see 1603160057) and the number of pay-TV carriers and broadcasters required to provide the service. That's an overreach, since Congress authorized the FCC only to increase the number of required hours, the Republican commissioners said. "The law is what the law is," Pai said. "It simply doesn't allow the commission to have its cake and eat it too." FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler called the proposal "logical," and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said it furthers the goal of "universal opportunity and inclusiveness."
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The NPRM seeks comment on a proposal to increase the video description requirement from 50 hours per quarter to 87.5 hours per quarter, Media Bureau staff said Thursday. That number represents a 75 percent increase, the capped amount of the increase authorized by Congress in the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA). The NPRM also proposes to raise the number of entities covered by the requirement, from the top four broadcast networks and top five nonbroadcast networks to the top five broadcast and top 10 nonbroadcast. That increase in scope is what takes the NPRM outside of Congress' intent, Pai and O'Rielly argued. Language that would have allowed the expansion of scope was removed from the CVAA during the legislative process, O'Rielly said. If the increased hours and the new covered entities are counted together, the NPRM would increase the required amount of described video by 192 percent, Pai said. The NPRM contains a tentative conclusion that the benefits of expanding the description requirements outweigh the costs, the Media Bureau said.
The item also seeks comment on a proposed "no-backsliding rule," which would continue to apply the video description requirement to included networks even if they fall out of the top five or top 10 in their category. The no-backsliding rule also represents an increase of the requirement beyond the allowed cap, Pai and O'Rielly said, since it would potentially cause the rules to be applied to many more networks than Congress originally allowed. Pai said the NPRM states that the top five broadcast networks must include Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC, regardless of their rankings, and that under those circumstances "the top five networks" could even include more than five networks. "The FCC even reinvents math," Pai said. The Media Bureau said that "Top Five Networks" is "a term of art." Both Pai and O'Rielly said they support increasing the scope of video description, but said they dissented in part because they believe the item exceeds FCC authority.
The NPRM also includes proposals to remove a rule that nonbroadcast networks must reach 50 percent of pay-TV households to be subject to video description rules, to require covered entities to provide dedicated customer service contacts for video description, and to file waiver requests electronically, the Media Bureau said.