Notice2024-05186
Audio Description: Nonbroadcast Networks
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
March 12, 2024
Effective
July 1, 2024
Issuing agencies
Federal Communications Commission
Abstract
FCC announces the top five national nonbroadcast networks subject to the Commission's audio description requirements.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 49 (Tuesday, March 12, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Page 17847]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-05186]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
[MB Docket No. 11-43; DA 24-184; FRS ID 206900]
Audio Description: Nonbroadcast Networks
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: FCC announces the top five national nonbroadcast networks
subject to the Commission's audio description requirements.
DATES: The updated list of the top five national nonbroadcast networks
subject to the Commission's audio description requirements is effective
July 1, 2024.
ADDRESSES: The full text of this public notice is available
electronically in ASCII, Microsoft Word, and/or Adobe Acrobat via ECFS
and at <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/media-bureau-grants-requests-audio-description-exemption-0">https://www.fcc.gov/document/media-bureau-grants-requests-audio-description-exemption-0</a>. Alternative formats are available for people
with disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio
format), by sending an email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#75131616404541351316165b121a03"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1c7a7f7f292c285c7a7f7f327b736a">[email protected]</span></a> or calling the
Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530
(voice).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, contact Diana
Sokolow (202-418-0588; <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1f5b767e717e314c7074707370685f797c7c31787069"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="aeeac7cfc0cf80fdc1c5c1c2c1d9eec8cdcd80c9c1d8">[email protected]</span></a>).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Media Bureau's
Public Notice, DA 24-184, released on February 28, 2024. Audio
description makes video programming more accessible to individuals who
are blind or visually impaired through ``[t]he insertion of audio
narrated descriptions of a television program's key visual elements
into natural pauses between the program's dialogue.'' \1\ The
Commission's audio description rules require multichannel video
programming distributor (MVPD) systems that serve 50,000 or more
subscribers to provide 87.5 hours of audio description per calendar
quarter on channels carrying each of the top five national nonbroadcast
networks. The top five national nonbroadcast networks are defined by an
average of the national audience share during prime time of
nonbroadcast networks that reach 50 percent or more of MVPD households
and have at least 50 hours per quarter of prime time programming that
is not live or near-live or otherwise exempt under the audio
description rules.
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\1\ 47 CFR 79.3(a)(3).
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The rules provide that the list of top five nonbroadcast networks
will update at three-year intervals to account for changes in ratings,
and that the fourth triennial update will occur on July 1, 2024, based
on the 2022 to 2023 ratings year. In anticipation of this update, the
Media Bureau issued a Public Notice on November 30, 2023 announcing the
top ten nonbroadcast networks for the 2022 to 2023 ratings year
according to data provided by the Nielsen Company: Fox News, ESPN,
MSNBC, HGTV, Hallmark, TLC, TNT, TBS, Discovery, and History. The
Public Notice indicated that a program network could seek an exemption
no later than 30 days after publication of the Public Notice, if it
believed it should be excluded from the list of top five networks
covered by the audio description rules because it does not air at least
50 hours of prime time programming per quarter that is not live or
near-live or is otherwise exempt. Fox News, ESPN, and MSNBC filed
timely requests for exemption from the list of top five nonbroadcast
networks.
In an Order adopted concurrently with this Public Notice, the
Bureau found that Fox News, ESPN, and MSNBC provide on average less
than 50 hours per calendar quarter of prime time programming that is
not live or near-live. The Bureau, therefore, exempted these three
networks from the Commission's audio description requirements
applicable to the top five national nonbroadcast networks. In making
its determination, the Bureau reviewed data pertaining to the six most
recent calendar quarters submitted by each network and sample
programming schedules. The Bureau also considered additional
information each individual network submitted to support or explain
aspects of each request, when available.
Thus, as a result of the exemptions granted to Fox News, MSNBC, and
ESPN and a review of Nielsen ratings for the 2022 to 2023 ratings year,
the top five nonbroadcast networks that will be subject to the audio
description requirements as of July 1, 2024 are: HGTV, Hallmark, TLC,
TNT, and TBS. MVPD systems that serve 50,000 or more subscribers must
provide 87.5 hours of audio description per calendar quarter on
channels carrying each of these networks during the triennial period
beginning on July 1, 2024.
Federal Communications Commission.
Thomas Horan,
Chief of Staff, Media Bureau.
[FR Doc. 2024-05186 Filed 3-11-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P
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