Apple TV+ and Disney+

On November 1, Apple TV+ became available with all-original, all-described programming.  On November 12, Disney+ began operation, with all original programming described, plus a lot of older movies described.  We have not been able to acquire an automated feed of titles yet from either company, so we are hand-updating the info and title pages right now.  Please check back over time, especially for Disney, which has the most titles.  (Updated Nov 12)

New Website Navigation and Listings

With the addition of Apple TV+ and Disney+, we needed new navigation options to cover the described titles from both streaming services.  This necessitated a review of how we are offering those options to you, and we decided to revamp the header and navigation areas of our website pages as you can see above.  We have added a couple of other new navigation options:  Our Conferences and an "Other" listing of titles available with AD from sites other than the biggies we list (we expect this to grow over time).  We hope you find this useful and welcome your feedback.  (Updated Nov 12)

Cord Cutting With AD in Mind

With cable and satellite TV costs rising, many customers (1.7 million in 3Q19) are investigating cord cutting, looking for lower-cost alternatives.  This becomes even more important as the streaming wars heat up, with additional fees for their services.  But what is a person to do if they depend upon that good old SAP channel for audio description?  Your webmaster faced this decision and investigated many options.  You can read his report of how to approach the problem, what solutions are out there, and what he finally decided upon, with a complete review of that service on our new page, Cord-Cutting Options Supporting Audio Description.  We hope to keep expanding this page as we get other users' success stories -- and we have one already for The Channels App.  Send your feedback to the webmaster.  (Updated Nov 12)

Audio-Described Painted Hall Tour - UK

Discover the UK’s Sistine Chapel:  the Painted Hall at Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College, an epic 18th-century masterpiece has now reopened following an £8.5 million makeover.  Painted between 1707 and 1726, the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College is Britain’s largest painted ceiling and hides many surprises.  The tour is delivered by an expert tour guide who has been trained in audio-description by VocalEyes.  Read more about the November 16th tour.  (Posted Oct 29)

AD Titles Milestones Reached!

In a sense they are arbitrary, but we like "round numbers."  Congratulations to both Netflix and Amazon Prime Video for breaking 1000 titles each this week!  (iTunes already did.)  And in turn, that lets us break the 3000 described titles mark in our Master AD List (which has been reformatted slightly to make it easier to get more information about each title).  (Posted October 15)

FCC Report to Congress

On October 10, the FCC published its Report to Congress on the status of Video Description in the USA.  Read our summary of the FCC Report, with a link to the full report.  (Originally Posted Oct 10)

FCC Grants Limited Waiver to USA Network

We previously reported that USA Network had requested a waiver from the FCC regarding the number of hours of described programming, specifically regarding repeats.  The FCC has decided the issue as follows:

"On October 7, 2019, the FCC's Media Bureau granted a limited waiver requested by NBCUniversal ... on behalf of its wholly owned nonbroadcast programming network, USA Network, of the Commission's video description rules, as long as USA Network airs at least 1,000 hours of described programming each quarter without regard to the number of repeats and describes at least 75 percent of any newly produced, non-live programming that is aired between 6:00 a.m. and midnight per quarter. However, the FCC declined to grant NBCUniversal's proposed safe harbor from the video description requirements for other similarly situated, top five nonbroadcast networks."  (Posted Oct 8)

Nomination for Audio Description Narration

For most movies and TV shows, the job of getting description to you lies with two professionals:  an audio description WRITER, and the person who VOICES the description (a voice-over artist or narrator).  For what is perhaps the first time, a professional organization (SOLAS, the Society of Voice Artists and Sciences) has nominated an audio description narrator for an award.  The category is "Outstanding Narration – TV, Film or Web – Best Voiceover," and the nominee is Roy Samuelson for his work on Universal's 2019 release of Glass.  It's great to see any component of audio description get recognition like this, and we congratulate Roy on the nomination and wish him luck!  (And speaking of Roy, here is yet another article on audio description by or about Roy:  Bringing TV and Movies to Life with Audio Description.)  (Posted Oct 8)

Disability Advisory Committee Recommendations to the FCC

Several ADP committee members are on the FCC's Disability Advisory Committee (DAC).  On September 24th, the DAC finalized a recommendation to the FCC on the subject of Described Audio TV Listings.  Ultimately, they recommend that "the Commission encourage all networks, channels, cable, satellite, fiber, streaming, and other services that provide video programming with audio description to provide timely, accurate program listings in accessible form, including ... on aggregator services, on their own websites, and in program guides."  Interestingly, they also recommend that the FCC drop the term "video description" in favor of the well-established  term "audio description" and "encourage other entities to do the same as a best practice."  They also recommend that the FCC adopt and recommend that others adopt the well-known Graphic Artists Guild AD symbol (above right) as the official standardized logo.  Read the full DAC Recommendation.  (Posted Oct 1)