1964 Chet Avery, a U.S. Department of Education administrator who is blind suggests describing educational media.
1981 Dr. Margaret Pfanstiehl invented first ongoing audio description service for adults attending live theater. Dr. Margaret Pfanstiehl trained volunteers to audio describe the PBS series “American Playhouse.”
1984 NTSC adopts MTS / SAP for new TVs.
1985-86 WGBH creates the concept of audio description for national PBS programming. CPB funds the development of the Descriptive Video Service (DVS).
1988 WGBH and Dr. Pfansteihl demo “American Playhouse” with DVS on ten PBS stations.
1994 Dr. Pfanstiel forms the National Television Access Coalition to ask Congress to mandate commercial TV broadcasters describe their videos.
1995 Congress requires FCC to study and regulate description.
2000 FCC mandates description on Big 4 commercial networks and most-viewed cable networks. PBS stations are not listed in the statute because they already voluntarily comply.
2000-02 Backlash in Congress from NAB & MPAA.
2002 U.S. Court of Appeals overturns FCC’s description mandate. Congress won’t reinstate FCC’s description rules.
2010 President Obama enacts the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA). Communication technologies must be accessible to people with vision or hearing loss. This reinstates the FCC’s 2000 statute, which had no mandate for PBS.
2012 FCC reinstitutes description requirements for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and the “top 5” cable networks in the largest markets. No mandate for PBS.
2020 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 implemented. FCC phasing in audio description requirements for an additional 10 DMAs each year. This expands the 2010 CVAA, which was reinstated from the FCC’s 2000 statute, with no mandate for PBS.
PBS is an accessibility leader.
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