FCC's 'video description' rules axed
By The Associated Press
11.12.02
WASHINGTON — An appeals court has thrown out Federal Communications Commission rules requiring television programs to include oral descriptions of the action on the screen.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on Nov. 8 that Congress did not give the FCC the power to order what is known as "video description" when it asked the agency to study the issue of accommodating the blind.
In video description, a narrator describes the action during natural pauses between dialogue. The description is available on a secondary channel. The FCC had ordered the four major commercial networks — CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox — to provide 50 hours of such programming
The Motion Picture Association of America challenged the rules in court, claiming the FCC was not authorized to issue them. The appeals court agreed.
"In short, the FCC can point to no statutory provision that gives the agency authority to mandate visual description rules," the court said. "Congress authorized and ordered the commission to produce a report — nothing more, nothing less."
MPAA President Jack Valenti applauded the court's decision. "The MPAA and our member companies support video description on a voluntary basis," Valenti said, "and we will continue to make available our filmed entertainment to as wide an audience as possible, specifically including the blind and those with impaired vision."
FCC officials did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
In other FCC news, the agency ruled on Nov. 7 that the White House drug-policy office must be identified as a sponsor of dozens of public service announcements that receive free air time on network television.
The FCC's decision could prompt several nonprofit groups that don't necessarily want their message associated with the Bush administration to stop producing the ads altogether.
For every dollar of advertising time purchased by the Office of National Drug Control Policy for anti-drug messages, TV networks are required to make an equivalent amount of free time available for public service ads on other topics.
More than 50 nonprofit organizations — from the Alliance for Youth to the Girl Scouts — take advantage of the arrangement. Proposed ads are reviewed by the Ad Council, a nonprofit group that works in partnership with the drug policy office.
Though the White House office does not exert editorial control over any of the ads in question, the FCC ruled that the matching arrangement is a form of consideration that makes the office a sponsor under federal regulations.
The Ad Council argued that identifying the drug-policy office as a sponsor on the matching public service ads would create public confusion by giving the impression the White House office controls and edits the content of those ads. That perception could compromise the independence of the groups and undermine their ability to raise funds, the Ad Council told the FCC.
At least 24 of the 59 groups that receive free air time through the match program — including the National 4H Council, National Crime Prevention Council and the Library of Congress — told the FCC they would stop participating in the program if the FCC required the drug-policy office to be listed as a sponsor.
But the FCC ruling said the program's success would not be jeopardized even if some participants dropped out.
The Media Access Project, a Washington-based media watchdog group, argued in favor of disclosing the drug policy office's connection to the ads.
"We think the public is entitled to know by whom they are being persuaded," said the group's president, Andrew Schwartzman. "It is more important, not less important, when the taxpayers are footing the bill."
Jennifer de Vallance, a spokeswoman for the drug-policy office, said officials were reviewing the decision. The office's ad campaign, which began in 1998, is expected to spend nearly $1 billion over five years.