Which law?
Mike Yared
http://www.captions.org/caplaw.cfm


TV 'captioning' for blind required
Network affiliates in Indianapolis must begin offering special narration of
what is happening on the screen.
http://www.indystar.com/article.php?blindcap01.html

By Marcella Fleming

April 01, 2002

Starting today, network affiliates in the country's top 25 TV markets
--including Indianapolis -- face a federal requirement to provide for their
blind audiences what they already do for the deaf: captions. So-called
"captioning for the blind" offers, between dialogue, brief spoken
descriptions of what's happening on screen. As the narrator paints a picture
with words, people who can't see can still envision subtle yet crucial
details: facial expressions, gestures and scenery essential to the program's
plot. Not everyone will hear the narration; a television's SAP -- secondary
audio programming channel -- must be set to receive it. But the service will
be limited, amounting to about four hours a week. From now until June 30,
each affiliate must offer 50 hours of described shows in prime time or
children's programming. Compliance is measured in three-month periods. As
late as Friday, the TV industry was trying to delay today's scheduled start
of the service. But the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington refused, saying
no compelling reason had been offered for overriding the Federal
Communications Commission's deadline. (The court has yet to rule on whether
the requirement itself should be overturned.) "I just knew that they would
do the right thing," said Dolly Sowder, a Bedford resident with virtually no
sight. Her audible e-mail was abuzz last weekend as word of the decision
spread among her colleagues at the American Council of the Blind. She is
president of Indiana's council.  "It's easy to tell what's going on by the
voices," she said. But "when it's quiet and there's nobody to describe
what's going on, I either try to figure out what I've missed, or I just give
up." CBS has told its stations to expect the dramas JAG and CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation to be the first described broadcasts, said Rick Thedwall,
director of programming and operations at WISH (Channel 8). When the
broadcasts will begin isn't clear, he said. It is difficult to say how many
of Indiana's estimated 216,000 blind or visually impaired residents will
have access to the service. Indianapolis is the state's only top market,
ranking 25th, as measured by the Nielsen Research Co. Hoosiers who get the
ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates in the No. 3 market, Chicago, will also
have access. But neither Cincinnati nor Louisville, Ky., is large enough to
qualify for the FCC's initial requirement. However, smaller affiliates that
have the technology to broadcast descriptions are required to do so. But
some of the roughly 51,000 blind or visually impaired residents in the
nine-county Indianapolis metro area might forgo the service. "It's not
popular with everyone," said Pat Price, president and founder of Vision
World Wide, an Indianapolis nonprofit information clearinghouse that serves
mostly professionals, including doctors, hospitals and rehabilitation
clinics. Some blind consumers find the descriptive asides more annoying than
missing the action, she said. Other concerns run deeper than misunderstood
plot lines on dramatic or comedic TV shows. "When emergency weather
information comes across the TV screen, you know it beeps -- you just don't
know what it says," said Donald Koors, a program director with the state's
vocational rehabilitation services, part of the Family and Social Services
Administration. Koors, who is visually impaired, noted that some
information, such as school closings and sports scores, are generally
presented as written information on the screen. The FCC requires stations to
provide emergency warnings audibly for the blind. "If they don't break in,
and sometimes they don't," Koors said, "it's a lost item."


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