Beginning January 1, 2025, the FCC’s audio description requirements will expand to commercial television stations affiliated with ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC in 10 additional Nielsen Designated Market Areas (DMAs): Johnson City-Bristol-Kingsport, Reno, Greenville-New Bern-Washington, Davenport-Rock Island-Moline, Tallahassee-Thomasville, Lincoln & Hastings-Kearney, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Johnstown-Altoona-State College, and Augusta-Aiken. Audio-described programming is intended to make video programming more accessible to blind or visually impaired consumers by inserting “audio narrated descriptions of a television program’s key visual elements into natural pauses between the program’s dialogue.”
In October 2023, the FCC adopted the Audio Description Second Report and Order, which expanded the audio description requirements to all television markets. As set out in the Order, 10 additional DMAs will be phased in each year through 2035 until all DMAs are subject to the audio description rules.
Under Section 79.3 of the FCC’s Rules, stations subject to the audio description requirements must provide at least 50 hours of audio-described programming per quarter during primetime or children’s programming, and an additional 37.5 hours of programming per quarter aired between 6 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. local time. The requirement applies to any of a station’s programming streams, whether primary or multicast, if the stream is affiliated with ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC.
The next deadline, January 1, 2025, will apply to DMAs 101 to 110, with markets 111 to 210 phased in through 2035 according to the below schedule.
Markets Compliance Deadline
101-110 January 1, 2025
111-120 January 1, 2026
121-130 January 1, 2027
131-140 January 1, 2028
141-150 January 1, 2029
151-160 January 1, 2030
161-170 January 1, 2031
171-180 January 1, 2032
181-190 January 1, 2033
191-200 January 1, 2034
201-210 January 1, 2035
As the January 1, 2025 deadline approaches, broadcasters in markets 101-110 should take proactive steps to ensure their technical facilities are equipped to provide audio described-programming and implement any necessary technical updates to meet the audio description requirements. Stations may petition the FCC for a full or partial exemption from complying with the audio description rules by demonstrating that compliance would be economically burdensome on the station.
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