On April 8, 2013,
the FCC adopted additional rules to make emergency information on
television more accessible to people who are blind or have visual
impairments. These were issued as a result of the passage of the 21st
CVAA and a longstanding demand of the COAT coalition. The new rules
require an audio output of any emergency information that appears
visually during a non-news program. Typically such emergency information
is shown along the bottom of the TV screen during a regularly
scheduled program and is typically in text and up to now has not been
required to be made audible. The new rules require this text to be
provided audibly on a secondary audio stream and goes into effect in two
years. This should help many people with visual impairments learn
about local emergency weather and other situations and should help save
lives, time and reduce aggravation. The two year effectiveness date
gives the industry plenty of time to figure out the technology to make
this happen. Due to the usual begging and pleading we have come to
expect, however, The Weather Channel got an additional six months to
comply. That is, The Weather Channel has an additional 6 months to
comply beyond the 2 year effectiveness date; and The Weather Channel on
DIRECTV has an additional one year to comply.
In the same rulemaking, the FCC set up new
requirements for equipment. That is, also adopted were new rules to
ensure that certain equipment used to receive, play back, or record
television programs is able to make secondary audio streams available
such as audio that provides emergency information, as well as the video
description that makes programs accessible to individuals who are blind
or visually impaired. These rules also go into effect two years after
they are published in the Federal Register.
