Sec. 103. Audio description
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Subsection
(g)of section 713 of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 613 ), as redesignated by section 102, is amended— in the heading, by striking and inserting Video ; and Audio by striking paragraphs (2), (3), and
(4)and inserting the following: Not later than 12 months after the date of submission of the recommendations to the Commission under section 106(d)(1) of the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act of 2026 , the Commission shall revise its regulations, taking into account those recommendations, to require all video programming first published or exhibited on television on or after the effective date of the revised regulations to be fully accessible through the provisions, receipt, and performance of audio description. The regulations revised under subparagraph (A)— shall ensure that all English-language and Spanish-language video programming first published or exhibited on television on or after the effective date of the revised regulations, is fully accessible through the provision, receipt, and performance of audio description in the original language of the audio track of the programming in all designated market areas, except as provided in paragraph (5); shall include an appropriate schedule of deadlines, the earliest of which shall be not less than 2 years after the effective date of the revised regulations and the latest of which shall be not more than 6 years after that effective date, for the provision, receipt, and performance of audio described programming first published or exhibited on television on or after that effective date; shall provide that audio described programming first published or exhibited on television on or after the effective date of the revised regulations shall be labeled and searchable or otherwise easily discoverable through navigation devices, apparatuses, applications, and other methods by which the programming is published or exhibited; shall provide that to the extent there is an audio channel or audio track dedicated solely to making audio description available, video programming first published or exhibited on television on or after the effective date of the revised regulations with audio description shall be made available to the public on such channel or track, so long as it is achievable (as defined in section 716(g)); and shall require any entity involved in the publishing or exhibiting of audio described programming on television that is first published or exhibited on or after the effective date of the revised regulations to provide contact information, consistent with section 79.1(i) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation, for consumers to report problems related to audio description. Not later than 18 months after the date of submission of the recommendations to the Commission under section 106(d)(1) of the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act of 2026 , the Commission shall revise its regulations, taking into account those recommendations, to require all online video programming that is first made available on or after the effective date of the revised regulations to be fully accessible through the provision, receipt, and performance of audio description. The regulations revised under subparagraph
(A)shall include an appropriate schedule of deadlines, the earliest of which shall be not less than 2 years after the effective date of the revised regulations and the latest of which shall be not more than 6 years after that effective date, for the provision, receipt, and performance of audio description on online video programming that is first made available on or after that effective date. The regulations revised under subparagraph
(A)shall— ensure that all English-language and Spanish-language online video programming that is first made available on or after the effective date of the revised regulations is fully accessible through the provision, receipt, and performance of audio description in the original language of the audio track of the programming; define the categories of entities engaged in making available online video programming and apportion the responsibilities for the provision, quality, pass-through, and rendering of audio description among such entities to ensure that audio description data— remains with the video programming to which the data is added; and is distributed in common formats so that audio description can be exhibited intact by all other entities that subsequently make the programming available to viewers; require, to the extent that an entity makes available to the public guides or listings of its online video programming, that the entity include information about the availability of audio description in those guides or listings to enable that programming to be searchable or easily discoverable through navigation devices, apparatuses, applications, and other methods on which the programming is made available; shall provide that to the extent there is an audio channel or audio track dedicated solely to making audio description available, online video programming shall be provided on such channel or track, unless that is not achievable (as defined in section 716(g)); and require entities engaged in making available audio described online video programming to provide contact information, consistent with section 79.4(c)(2)(iii) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation, for end users to report problems related to audio description. Not later than 18 months after the date of submission of the recommendations to the Commission under section 106(d)(1) of the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act of 2026 , the Commission shall prescribe regulations, taking into account those recommendations, to maximize, through the provision, receipt, and performance of audio description, the accessibility of— online video programming that is first made available before the effective date of the revised regulations under subparagraph
(A)of this paragraph; and consumer generated media. In prescribing regulations for consumer generated media under clause (i)(II), the Commission shall require that an entity engaged in making available consumer generated media, whether or not the entity is also engaged in making available video that is not consumer generated media, provides— authoring tools that permit users who post videos on the entity’s platform to add closed captions; timely and effective notice, at or before the time of upload, to users who post videos on the entity’s platform that such authoring tools are available for videos; and guidance on how to use such authoring tools. Not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act of 2026 , the Commission shall prescribe regulations to ensure the technical quality of audio description on video programming, including online video programming, and consumer generated media as necessary to afford access to video programming and consumer generated media that is functionally equivalent to the access provided by the visual components of the programming or media. The regulations prescribed under subparagraph
(A)shall require that audio description— effectively convey key visual elements of the program or media; when utilizing text-to-speech synthetic voices, effectively convey the visual content and vocal nuance of the program or media in a manner that is functionally equivalent to the ability of human voicing to convey the visual content and vocal nuance; be edited, encoded, and delivered to the public in a manner that ensures consistency with the editing, encoding, and delivery of the non-description audio track of the programming or media; and to the extent practicable, be provided for open subtitles in the same language as the audio or in other languages if the subtitles convey information relevant to the program or media that is not conveyed in the audio of the program or media. For the purposes of achieving compliance with and enforcement of the requirements of this paragraph and the regulations prescribed thereunder, the Commission shall prescribe regulations that include the compliance and enforcement procedures under section 79.1(g)(9) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation. Notwithstanding paragraphs
(2)and (3)— the Commission may exempt by regulation from the requirements under paragraphs
(2)and
(3)programs or media, classes of programs or media, or services for which the Commission has determined that the provision of audio description would be economically burdensome to an entity responsible for publishing, exhibiting, or making available such programming or media; and an entity responsible for publishing, exhibiting, or making available video programming or consumer generated media may petition the Commission for an exemption from the requirements under paragraphs
(2)and (3), and the Commission may grant the exemption upon a showing that the requirement to include audio description would be economically burdensome. . The Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 151 et seq. ) is amended— in title III ( 47 U.S.C. 301 et seq. )— in section 303(u) ( 47 U.S.C. 303(u) )— in paragraph (1)(B)— by striking video description and inserting audio description ; and by striking section 713(f) and inserting section 713(g) ; and by moving the left margin of that subsection and each paragraph, subparagraph, and clause therein 2 ems to the left; and in section 330(b) ( 47 U.S.C. 330(b) ), by striking video description each place the term appears and inserting audio description ; and in section 713 ( 47 U.S.C. 613 ), in subsection (a)(1), as redesignated by section 101— in the paragraph heading, by striking and inserting Video description ; and Audio description by striking video description and inserting audio description .
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