Broadcasters and Consumer Groups Weigh In on Audible Crawl Rule
Broadcasters and consumer groups support the FCC’s proposed revision of the audible crawl rule but disagree on some of the specifics, according to comments filed in docket 12-107 by Monday’s deadline.
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The current rule requires broadcasters to provide an audio version of on-screen emergency information graphics, such as radar maps. Broadcasters have long maintained that it's technologically impossible, and the rule has been nearly continuously waived since it went into effect in 2015. In 2024, when the FCC briefly allowed the waiver to lapse, some broadcasters ceased showing weather maps to avoid violations (see 2411290007).
The FCC’s further NPRM, approved in April (see 2604300052), suggested amending the rule in line with an NAB proposal to allow broadcasters to comply by providing a text crawl that provides equivalent information to the graphics. NAB and a group of broadcast commenters reaffirmed their support for the revisions in their filings this week.
“Adopting this change will finally resolve this issue in a way that recognizes the realities of today’s technology, provides regulatory certainty, and most importantly, ensures access to emergency information for persons who are blind or low vision,” NAB said.
Nexstar, E.W. Scripps, CMG Media and others said in a joint filing that “despite the efforts of the television broadcast industry over the past thirteen years, reducing to writing the information that can be conveyed in on-screen visuals, like a radar weather map, remains a complex, unsolved problem.”
Consumer groups representing the visually impaired agreed that the rule must be revised but said the FCC should clarify how the obligation to inform blind and low-vision viewers will be satisfied for visual, non-textual emergency info. “The accessible version should not be a materially less complete or less actionable version of the emergency information,” said a joint filing from the American Council of the Blind, the American Foundation for the Blind and others. “The final rule can be both practical and protective,” they argued. “It can provide needed compliance clarity while ensuring that blind and low-vision viewers continue to receive meaningful, timely, and actionable access to emergency information.”
The consumer groups said the FCC should also establish recommended practices for delivering visual, non-textual emergency information and “encourage continued development, testing, and use of reliable conveyance methods” for that information.
But NAB and the broadcasters said the FCC should reject requests to add more requirements to the audible crawl rule. “Local broadcasters know their local audiences best, and issues about the content and frequency of text crawls should be left to a station’s journalistic discretion,” said the broadcasters' joint filing.
In addition, NAB said a requirement that broadcasters investigate technological solutions is unnecessary because they're already doing so. “NAB herein commits to a higher degree of direct, sustained collaboration with blind and low vision stakeholders in evaluating potential technical solutions,” it said. “We agree ... that progress could be advanced by more consistent engagement with the blind and low vision community in exploring and testing potential solutions for the aural presentation of visual emergency information.”