[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Page 17847]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-05186]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[MB Docket No. 11-43; DA 24-184; FRS ID 206900]


Audio Description: Nonbroadcast Networks

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 https://www.fcc.gov/document/media-bureau-grants-requests-audio-description-exemption-0. Alternative formats are available for people 
with disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio 
format), by sending an email to [email protected] 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; [email protected]).

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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ 47 CFR 79.3(a)(3).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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