Title 47

SECTION 79.106

79.106 Audio description and emergency information accessibility requirements for recording devices.

§ 79.106 Audio description and emergency information accessibility requirements for recording devices.

(a) Effective May 26, 2015, all apparatus that is designed to record video programming transmitted simultaneously with sound that is provided by entities subject to §§ 79.2 and 79.3 and is manufactured in the United States or imported for use in the United States, must comply with the provisions of this section except that apparatus must only do so if it is achievable as defined in § 79.105(b)(3).

Note 1 to paragraph (a):

Apparatus includes the physical device and the video player(s) capable of displaying video programming transmitted simultaneously with sound that manufacturers install into the devices they manufacture before sale, whether in the form of hardware, software, or a combination of both, as well as any video players capable of displaying video programming transmitted simultaneously with sound that manufacturers direct consumers to install after sale.

Note 2 to paragraph (a):

This paragraph places no restrictions on the importing, shipping, or sale of apparatus that were manufactured before May 26, 2015.

(b) All apparatus subject to this section must enable the presentation or the pass through of the secondary audio stream, which will facilitate the provision of audio description signals and emergency information (as that term is defined in § 79.2) such that viewers are able to activate and de-activate the audio description as the video programming is played back on a picture screen of any size.

(c) All apparatus subject to this section must comply with the interconnection mechanism requirements in § 79.105(c).

[78 FR 31798, May 24, 2013, as amended at 85 FR 76486, Nov. 30, 2020]