Please circulate so everyone will have a chance to participate in
the process.
Washington, D.C. – As part of its ongoing efforts to implement
the “Twenty-First Century Communications and Video
Accessibility Act of 2010” (CVAA), the Federal Communications
Commission issued three Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs).
The CVAA is considered the most significant piece of
accessibility legislation since the passage of the Americans with
Disabilities Act in 1990. The CVAA has modernized existing
communications laws to ensure that people with disabilities are
able to share fully in the economic, social, and civic benefits
of broadband and other 21st century communication technologies.
The first of the three FCC CVAA-related NPRMs approved by the
Commission seeks to ensure that the 54 million individuals with
disabilities living in the United States are able to fully use
advanced communications services, equipment and networks.
Section 255 of the Communications Act now requires
telecommunications and interconnected VoIP manufacturers to
provide such access. The NPRM seeks to ensure that when Section
716 is implemented, it will fully complement Section 255. Until
now, people with disabilities often have not had full access to
the benefits of rapid technological changes in advanced
communications. Wireless handsets have evolved into multi-media
devices capable of accessing the Internet, sending e-mails or
text messages, and enabling video conversations.
The Advanced Communications Services NPRM seeks comment on the
following:
• How should the FCC implement the requirements of
Section 104 of the CVAA, which creates new sections 716 and 717
of the Communications Act? It is essential that the Commission
ensure that manufacturers of “advanced communications
services” (ACS) equipment make their devices and products
accessible to people with disabilities. In certain cases where
manufacturers cannot achieve compliance by making their products
or services accessible, they must ensure that their equipment and
services is compatible with assistive technologies used by people
with disabilities.
• Are there steps that the Commission should be taking
to enhance its enforcement and recordkeeping procedures for
manufacturers and providers, under Sections 255 and 716? The
CVAA directs the Commission to implement new procedures in this
area under Section 717.
• With section 718 taking effect in 2013, what steps
can the Commission and stakeholders take to ensure that ACS
manufacturers and service providers are working to make mobile
phone Internet browsers accessible to people who are blind or
visually impaired?
The FCC approved a second NPRM that seeks comment on
reinstatement and modification of the video description rules
originally adopted by the Commission in 2000. Video description
is the insertion of audio-narrated descriptions of a television
program's key visual elements into natural pauses in the
program's dialogue. This feature makes television programming
more accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired by
providing them with essential information that is otherwise
conveyed to the audience only visually.
This NPRM would reinstate the Commission’s video description
rules that were previously overturned by the U.S. Court of
Appeals more than a decade ago. The enactment of the CVAA in
2010 provided the Commission with ample authority for the
reinstatement of these rules.
As directed by Congress in the CVAA, the proposed rules would
require:
* Large-market broadcast affiliates of the top four national
networks and large multichannel video programming distributors
(“MVPDs”) to provide video description;
* These broadcasters to provide 50 hours per quarter of
video-described primetime or children’s programming, with
affected MVPDs providing the same amount on each of the five most
popular non-broadcast networks; and
* All network-affiliated broadcasters and all MVPDs to
“pass through” any video description included in network or
broadcast programming they carry. Live or near-live programming
would be exempt from the proposed rules.
Finally, the FCC approved a third NPRM to implement Section
103(b) of the CVAA, which mandates that the Commission extend
participation in and contribution to the Telecommunications Relay
Service (“TRS”) Fund to interconnected and non-interconnected
Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) service providers.
Although interconnected VoIP service providers already contribute
to the Fund under Commission rules, this would statutorily codify
that practice, and further extend this obligation to
non-interconnected providers. The TRS Fund compensates TRS
providers for the costs of providing service to individuals with
hearing and speech disabilities.
Contributions to the TRS Fund are calculated on the basis of
annual interstate end-user telecommunications revenues. There is
a “safe harbor” provision that permits interconnected VoIP
providers to calculate their contributions on the basis of actual
revenues or a traffic study, or to rely on a “safe harbor”
provision that allows them to consider 64.9% of their revenues to
be interstate telecommunications revenues.
The TRS Fund NPRM seeks public comment on the following:
* Should the safe harbor provision extend to
non-interconnected VoIP providers?
* What revenues should be included in calculating TRS
contributions, i.e., just revenues from interstate end-user calls
or revenues from all sources?
* Should the FCC require VoIP providers that offer services
for free and have zero end-user revenues to make any
contributions to the TRS Fund?
Action by the Commission March 2, 2011, by Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking (FCC 11-37, FCC 11-36, FCC 11-38) respectively.
Chairman Genachowski, Commissioners Copps, McDowell, Clyburn and
Baker. Separate Statements issued by Chairman Genachowski and
Commissioner Copps. Docket Nos. CG 10-213, MB 11-43, CG 11-47.
For more news and information about the FCC please visit:
www.fcc.gov <http://www.fcc.gov/
The White House · 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW · Washington DC
20500 · 202-456-1111
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