NAB Seeks Waiver of May 26th Deadline For New Emergency Accessibility Requirement

About a year ago, the FCC modified its closed-captioning rules, and among (many) other things, added a requirement for video program providers (i.e., all TV stations) to begin using – by May 26, 2015 – a secondary audio stream to provide emergency information provided visually during non-newscast programming so the blind or visually impaired could hear such information.

The NAB has asked the FCC for a 6-month partial exemption or limited waiver of the requirement, noting that the hardware and software necessary for stations to aurally transcribe emergency information has not yet been released and delivered by vendors, much less installed or tested.

The FCC put NAB’s request out on public notice, requesting comments, but has yet to modify the March 26, 2015 deadline.

We note that the new SAP requirement does not apply to EAS-initiated emergency information.