Court Strikes Down FCC Video Description Rules
   November 08, 2002 01:23 PM ET
   WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Friday struck down
   rules requiring major television broadcasters and programmers to
offer
   verbal video descriptions of certain shows to aid people with visual
   disabilities.

   The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules in 2000
requiring
   visual parts of a show to be verbally described during pauses in the
   dialogue beginning this year. Many non- commercial stations have
   offered the service for years.

   The Motion Picture Association of America appealed to the U.S. Court
   of Appeals for the District of Columbia, arguing the law did not
   authorize such rules, but the FCC countered the regulations were
   allowed because, in part, they were in the public interest.

   "The FCC can point to no statutory provision that gives the agency
   authority to mandate visual description rules," wrote Judge Harry
   Edwards in the opinion for the three-judge court panel.

   The statute does not, as with closed captioning, instruct (or even
   permit) the FCC to promulgate regulations mandating video
   description," the decision said.

   The rules had required television broadcasters affiliated with the
   four major networks, ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, in the top 25 television
   markets to offer 50 hours of video description a quarter during
   prime-time, or children's programming starting in 2002, equivalent
to
   about 4 hours a week.

   Cable and satellite television operators with 50,000 subscribers or
   more must also offer 50 hours each quarter of video description
during
   prime-time or children's programming for any of the top five
national
   non-broadcast networks.

   FCC spokeswoman Michelle Russo said the agency was reviewing the
   decision.

   The agency could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. But Michael
Powell,
   who was a FCC commissioner at the time the rules were adopted and is
   now chairman of the agency, said in 2000 the rules were not
supported
   by the law.

   A spokeswoman for the MPAA was not immediately available for
comment.

   The National Federation of the Blind also asked the rules to be
struck
   down because the FCC did not determine whether visually impaired
   people wanted the service, but the court said it was moot since it
   granted the MPAA's challenge.

   ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Co. . CBS is owned by Viacom Inc. .
   Fox is owned by News Corp Ltd. and NBC is owned by General Electric
   Co.