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


    VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
Archived on the World Wide Web at
    http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
    Signoff: [log in to unmask]
    Subscribe: [log in to unmask]