Editing Audio description (section)

===FCC involvement===
When the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) started establishing various requirements for broadcasters in larger [[media market|markets]] to improve their accessibility to audiences with hearing and vision impairments,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/resources/guides/mag_guide_vol3.html|title=The Campaign for WGBH Educational Foundation}}</ref> DVS branched out to non-PBS programming, and soon description could be heard on the SAP for shows such as ''[[CSI: Crime Scene Investigation]]'' and ''[[The Simpsons]]''. However, a federal court ruled in 2002 that the Federal Communications Commission had exceeded its jurisdiction by requiring broadcasters in the top 25 markets to carry video description.

Since that time, the amount of new DVS television programming in the United States declined, as did access to information regarding upcoming described programming, while broadcasters like ABC and Fox instead decided to devote their SAP channels to [[Spanish language]] [[Dub localization|dubbing tracks]] of their shows rather than DVS due to the technical limitations of the analog NTSC standard. Description by DVS and other producers was still available in a limited form on television (the greatest percentage of DVS programming is still on PBS).<ref name="pbs-sch">[http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/services/description/ontv/pbs-schedule.htm]{{Dead link|date=July 2019|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> WGBH's Media Access Group continues supporting description of feature films (known as DVS Theatrical)<ref name="mopix">{{Cite web |url=http://ncam.wgbh.org/mopix/ |title=MoPix – Motion Picture Access<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2019-11-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513064518/http://ncam.wgbh.org/mopix/ |archive-date=2007-05-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and DVS home videos/[[DVD]]s are available from WGBH as well as other vendors and libraries.<ref name="dvs-cat">[http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/resources/dvs-home-video-catalogue.html WGBH - Media Access Group - DVS Home Video<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Commercial caption providers the [[National Captioning Institute]] and [[CaptionMax]] have also begun to describe programs. Benefit Media, Inc., a subsidiary of DuArt Film and Video in New York City provides DVS services to [[USA Network]]. For the [[2016 Summer Olympics]], [[NBC Olympics|NBC]] is providing description of events during the network's primetime block.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afb.org/community/announcements/comcast-and-nbc-to-make-the-2016-summer-olympic-games-accessible-to-people-with-vision-loss-through-live-description/12|title=Comcast and NBC to Make the 2016 Summer Olympic Games Accessible to People with Vision Loss through Live Description|publisher=[[American Foundation for the Blind]]|access-date=7 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808135514/http://www.afb.org/community/announcements/comcast-and-nbc-to-make-the-2016-summer-olympic-games-accessible-to-people-with-vision-loss-through-live-description/12|archive-date=8 August 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 reinstates the FCC's involvement in providing rules for video description. Under the rules, affiliates in the top 25 markets and the top five-rated cable networks will have to provide at least 50 hours of video described programming per quarter; the rules took effect on July 1, 2012.<ref name=source1>{{cite web|title=Networks Set to Launch Video Descriptions|url=https://tvnewscheck.com/uncategorized/article/networks-set-to-launch-video-descriptions/|work=TVNewsCheck|date=June 13, 2012|access-date=March 29, 2022}}</ref> However, this provision currently does not apply to [[Broadcast syndication|syndicated]] programming; notably, many programs which have audio description in their network runs, such as those produced by [[Twentieth Century Fox Television]], remove the DVS track for syndication, substituting in the Spanish dubbing track on SAP to reach more viewers, though as many stations affiliated with "netlets" like [[The CW]] and [[MyNetworkTV]] are not under the video description provision, do not have SAP channels and thus, neither an audio description or Spanish dub track can be heard. In some markets where SAP is activated on affiliate stations though, The CW had provided a Spanish SAP dub for ''[[Jane the Virgin]]'' through the series' entire run, and audio description is available and passed through for their Saturday morning ''[[One Magnificent Morning]]'' [[E/I]] block, which is done for all of the blocks produced for the major broadcast networks by [[Litton Entertainment]]. In 2019, the first primetime series with DVS for the network, ''[[In the Dark (American TV series)|In the Dark]]'' (which has a blind protagonist), was launched (the series' description propagated to its Netflix run several weeks after it was placed on that service after the first-season finale). MyNetworkTV has no provisions for audio description or language dub tracks, despite many of its scripted series having DVS tracks.

Online streaming services such as [[Hulu]] and the services of television networks themselves such as [[CBS All Access]] have yet to carry descriptive video service audio in most cases as they instead are currently focused on adding closed captioning to their libraries (the network app for ABC began to carry existing audio described shows in the fall of 2017). [[Netflix]] committed in April 2015 to begin audio description of their original series, starting with ''[[Daredevil (TV series)|Daredevil]]'' (which features a [[Daredevil (Marvel Comics character)|blind protagonist]] with other heightened senses) and the remainder of their original programming in the next few months, making their goal in that timeframe, along with providing the DVS tracks of existing series in their library; however some platforms (mainly older versions for devices that are now unsupported) do not provide the alternate audio.<ref>{{cite press release|title=Netflix Begins Audio Description for Visually Impaired|publisher=Netflix corporate blog|date=14 April 2015|url=https://media.netflix.com/en/company-blog/netflix-begins-audio-description-for-visually-impaired|access-date=15 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405184143/https://media.netflix.com/en/company-blog/netflix-begins-audio-description-for-visually-impaired|archive-date=5 April 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

ABC, along with sister network [[Disney Channel]] has since added audio description to some of their programming (with a commensurate decline in Spanish-dubbed programming, though the [[ATSC]] standard allows more audio channels), but does not contract any of their shows to be described by the Media Access Group, instead going with commercial providers [[CaptionMax]] and [http://audioeyesllc.com/ Audio Eyes]. Some special programming such as ''[[Toy Story of Terror!]]'' and ''[[Toy Story That Time Forgot]]'' is described by the Media Access Group under existing contracts with [[Walt Disney Pictures]]. NBC and their associated cable networks, along with outside productions by [[Universal Television]] such as ''[[Brooklyn Nine-Nine]]'' and ''[[The Mindy Project]]'', solely use CaptionMax for description services; Netflix also utilizes CaptionMax for their original series, while going per studio for acquired programming. Most scripted programming on Fox, except for the shows of [[Gordon Ramsay]] (''[[Hell's Kitchen (American TV series)|Hell's Kitchen]]'', ''[[Hotel Hell]]'' and ''[[Kitchen Nightmares]]'') is described by the Media Access Group; Ramsay's programs are contracted by his [[ITV Studios America|producing studio]] to have audio description done by Scottish-born voiceover artist [http://www.deyanaudio.com/femascottish.html Mhairi Morrison] with [http://www.descriptivevideoworks.com/ Descriptive Video Works]. Unique to most described shows, Fox's ''[[Empire (2015 TV series)|Empire]]'' uses actress [[Adrienne Barbeau]] for their description. CBS's described shows all use the Media Access Group.

Some shows have lost their DVS during their original network runs due to outside factors or complications. For instance, ''[[American Dad!]]'' had a two-season interregnum in part of season 12 and all of season 13 without any DVS service during its move from Fox to [[TBS (American TV channel)|TBS]] in late 2014, before it returned in November 2016 for its fourteenth season. ''[[The Mindy Project]]'' lost DVS at the start of their fourth season upon the move to Hulu, which does not yet provide DVS service. [[Cartoon Network]] and their time-share partner [[Adult Swim]] began to pass-through DVS for their syndicated content in the last quarter of 2018.