Video description is narrated descriptions of the key visual elements in a television program, which are inserted at natural pauses in the dialogue of the program. It is designed to make television programs more accessible to persons with visual disabilities.
Some programs aired by noncommercial or public broadcast stations contain video description.
Some programs provided on a few cable channels, such as the Turner Classic Movies channel, also contain video description. Most television programs do not contain video description. These rules will commence with the calendar quarter April to June 2002. The FCC ruled that any broadcast station or MVPD that provides local emergency information as part of a regularly scheduled newscast, or as part of a newscast that interrupts regularly scheduled programming, will be required to make the critical details of this information accessible to persons with visual disabilities in the affected local area. In addition, any broadcast station or MVPD that provides emergency information through a crawl or scroll will be required to accompany that information with an aural tone to alert persons with visual disabilities that the station or MVPD is providing this information.