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Media Bureau Grants ACA, NAB Waivers on Pass-Through of Emergency Information

The Media Bureau granted waivers of secondary audio stream rules requested by American Cable Association and NAB, it said in an order Tuesday. As requested by ACA, hybrid cable systems that can’t pass through the secondary stream will be allowed…

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to provide free set-top boxes that can do so to visually impaired customers. As ACA requested, customers seeking the boxes must verify that they are visually impaired, and cable carriers have to provide a box for every applicable TV in a customer’s home, the bureau said. The bureau also extended the compliance deadline for analog-only systems to June 12, 2018, the order said and granted NAB’s request for a six-month limited waiver of the audible crawl rule -- until Nov. 26 -- to allow more time for the necessary technology for transcribing emergency crawls to be adopted by broadcasters. An NAB-requested waiver of a requirement for visual but nontext-based information -- such as radar maps and other moving graphics -- to be included in the video description stream was granted with an 18-month time limit, the order said. A broadcaster requested waiver of including school closing information in secondary audio stream emergency description was also granted, the order said.(see 1505190057).