From: Penny Reeder <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
Subject: Today's Press Release Regarding Federal Appeals Court Decision  on
    Video Description

*****
For Immediate Release

Contacts: Charlie Crawford
[log in to unmask]
Margaret R. Pfanstiehl
(301) 593-0120

BLINDNESS COALITION VOWS COURT DECISION
WON'T END DESCRIBED VIDEO

WASHINGTON -- Leaders of advocacy organizations working on behalf of millions
of blind and low vision children and adults today reacted strongly to the
Federal Appeals Court decision on Friday, November 8,  which vacated the
Federal Communications Commission's July 1, 2000 rule and order mandating the
major television networks to provide limited amounts of described  video
programs for visually impaired people.  While expressing disappointment, the
17-member National Television and Video Access Coalition, which includes AARP;
the American Council of the Blind (ACB); the American Foundation for the Blind
(AFB); and the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA), expressed its resolve to
keep video description alive on prime-time and children's television programs,
and to expand the service which makes visual information contained in
televised
programs accessible, via verbal description, to people who cannot see their TV
screens.

Coalition Chair Dr. Margaret Pfanstiehl of Silver Spring, Md., President of
the
Metropolitan Washington Ear, said, "Described television is, for people who
are
blind or visually impaired, what closed captioning is for people who are deaf
or hard of hearing.  We have worked for a dozen years to make this service
available, and we are not about to have it disappear from commercial
television
networks just when blind people are beginning to discover the pleasure of
television in the same way that other people take the medium for granted.
Many
people of good faith have supported us in our efforts to obtain and expand
this
essential service.  Our supporters within the industry and within the
disability community will continue to promote this access."

Charlie Crawford of Silver Spring, Md., Executive Director of the American
Council of the Blind, added, "The ACB has worked too long and too hard to
achieve the kind of inclusion that video described television was beginning to
offer us to allow it to be taken away from us now."  Crawford said that the
technique of describing visual information verbally via the Secondary Audio
Programming channel has been embraced enthusiastically by members of his
organization, which includes blind and visually impaired people of all ages,
all over the USA.

"ACB and other members of the Coalition are weighing our options and
considering a number of next steps," said Christopher Gray, of San Francisco,
President of the ACB.  "The population of blind and visually impaired people
continues to expand as the baby boom generation enters senior citizenship.
People who lose their vision later in life have grown up watching TV, and they
aren't going to like the idea of having to do without access to this
mainstream
medium, just when it began to appear that described video would allow them to
continue to enjoy it."

Video description, developed for television in the late '80s by Boston public
broadcaster WGBH, provides viewers who are blind or visually impaired with
narration of key visual elements, actions, scene changes, and facial
expressions during natural pauses in dialogue.  Narrated description is
delivered via the second audio program, a standard feature on stereo
televisions and SAP-equipped VCRs since 1990.  PBS has provided description of
programming for over a decade, and the Narrative Television Network and Turner
Classic Movies cable network also provide this program feature on a regular
basis.

In July 2000, the FCC adopted rules designed to increase the accessibility of
television and emergency information for viewers with visual disabilities.
The
rules took effect between April and June 2002, and required that the top
commercial networks and the major cable networks provide 50 hours per calendar
quarter of described programming to the nation's top 25 television markets.
(More information on the FCC's description rules can be found at
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/videodescription.html.)

The Motion Picture Association of America and the networks attempted to vacate
the Federal Communications Commission's rule under a contention that the FCC
did not have the Congressional mandate to make such a rule.  On Friday,
November 8, the Federal Court of Appeals in a three-to-zero decision sided
with
the industry.

"The Access Coalition welcomes the early indicators that the television
industry will continue to provide video description on broadcast and cable
television on a voluntary basis," said Coalition Chair Pfanstiehl.  "We will
continue to advocate for this essential access.  The nation's 12 million
citizens with visual impairment are eager to see that the industry maintain
and
expand the number of programs which include description, and we applaud those
commercial broadcast and cable networks that began providing description as of
the date the FCC's mandate went into effect."

ACB Executive Director Crawford says, "Future actions of the coalition in
regard to legal and legislative initiatives will be informed by the continued
resolve of national broadcast and cable networks and local cable companies
which pass through (or neglect to pass through) the description content on the
SAP channel.  We, at ACB, have appreciated the quality of the descriptions,
and
the willingness of some to go beyond the requirements of the FCC rules.  For
example, in July 2002, we gave an 'Access Award' to the Fox television network
who began providing description even before the mandate went into effect, and
who extended the service to its most popular prime-time programs."

ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, as well as the top five cable networks:  Lifetime,
Nickelodeon, TBS, TNT and USA Network have all joined with PBS and Turner
Classic Movies to provide described programming.  Viewers who are blind or
visually impaired, their families and friends now enjoy such varied described
programs as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on CBS, Law & Order on TNT,
Lifetime
movies, world television premieres of theatrical films and specials on ABC and
USA Network and Rugrats and Blue's Clues on Nickelodeon.

The American Council of the Blind is a national membership organization whose
purpose is to work toward independence, security, equality of opportunity, and
improved quality of life for all blind and visually impaired people.
Founded in
1961, ACB's members work through more than 70 state and special-interest
affiliates to improve the well-being of all blind and visually impaired people
by: serving as a representative national organization; elevating the social,
economic and cultural levels of blind people; improving educational and
rehabilitation facilities and opportunities; cooperating with the public and
private institutions and organizations concerned with blind services;
encouraging and assisting all people with severely impaired vision to develop
their abilities and conducting a public education program to promote greater
understanding of blindness and our capabilities. To learn more about the
Council's work, visit the web site at http://www.acb.org, or contact the
national office in Washington, DC at (202) 467-5081.


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