Second-Screen Emergency Alert Item Would Require More Accessibility

An FCC order on the agenda for next Thursday’s meeting is expected to require multichannel video programming distributors to pass through a secondary audio stream of emergency alerts which appear as an on-screen crawl on TV sets to tablets and smartphones streaming MVPD content through the companies' apps, said agency officials. It's "my hope and expectation that these new rules will enable individuals who are blind or visually impaired to more quickly respond to time-sensitive emergency situations,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in an April 30 blog post on the items.

The items include an order that would require the pass-through of the alerts and a dedicated TV control to enable the audio stream, said agency officials. An accompanying Further NPRM would seek comment on a dedicated control for enabling the emergency alert audio stream on second-screen devices and on limiting some of the emergency information that's passed on to the devices, the FCC officials said. A Media Bureau spokeswoman wouldn't comment.

The blind and visually impaired, just like the rest of those in the U.S., are increasingly using tablets, phones and other second-screen devices to view video content, said Mark Richert, American Foundation for the Blind public policy director. Any effort that makes sure to include the ability of the visually impaired to receive needed emergency information should be supported, Richert said.

The draft order would require the emergency alert information on the secondary audio stream be passed through only when the tablet or phone is using the MVPD’s app, said agency officials. MVPDs don’t oppose an order requiring passing on the emergency alert information running on broadcast channels on a customers' own home system, an industry official said. A more complicated requirement that involved geolocating customers might meet with stronger opposition, said another official.

The draft order would require MVPDs to provide a mechanism comparable to a button to provide access to the secondary audio stream, agency officials said. CEA and NCTA, which didn’t comment, opposed earlier FCC requirements that closed captions be activated by specific button as being too restrictive to innovation. A Further NPRM accompanying the order will seek comment on requiring a similar button-like mechanism to enable the secondary audio stream on second-screen devices, said an official.

The Further NPRM would also seek comment on deleting some of the emergency information in the secondary audio stream because it presents practical difficulties, said an FCC official. This item reflects concerns raised by NAB, which has argued that reading aloud on the secondary audio stream school closings during a winter weather emergency can take up so much time that it obscures more immediate emergency information, such as news about road closings or approaching storms. “The requirement to include school closings in the audible crawl risks crowding out other emergency information or visual description on the secondary audio service, and should be reexamined,” NAB said in comments in docket 12-107. While the visually impaired also need to know about school closings, the practicalities involving an emergency should be considered, Richert said.