Audio Description Project
Audio Description Project
In October 2023 the FCC modified its ruling to expand way beyond the top 60 markets. Read: FCC Expands Audio Description Requirements to All Television Markets. Original article follows.
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In August 2011, the FCC voted to reinstate the requirement for Video Description starting July 1, 2012 as defined in the 21st Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act. We have arrived at a major "next step" in the FCC requirements: expansion of the availability of description from the top 25 television markets to the top 60 markets, effective July 1, 2015. (The markets are defined by the most current Nielsen rankings and may vary slightly from the markets as defined by other parties in the TV industry.) Here is the specific wording of the requirement at the time from the FCC:
Where does your area lie? Consult the following table, which was effective for the 2014-2015 TV season. If you want to know how the areas changed in 2020, consult our page, Nielson DMA (Designated Market Area) Rankings; HOWEVER, the rule designates the July 1, 2015 date as the one for measurement of compliance.
| Top 25 Markets | Markets 26-60 |
| 1. New York 2. Los Angeles 3. Chicago 4. Philadelphia 5. Dallas-Fort Worth 6. SFO-Oakland-San Jose 7. Boston (Manchester NH) 8. Washington DC (Hagerstown) 9. Atlanta 10. Houston 11. Phoenix (Prescott) 12. Detroit 13. Tampa-St Pete (Sarasota) 14. Seattle-Tacoma 15. Minneapolis-St Paul 16. Miami-Ft Lauderdale 17. Denver 18. Orlando-Daytona Bch-Melbrn 19. Cleveland-Akron (Canton) 20. St Louis 21. Sacramento-Stockton/Modesto 22. Pittsburgh 23. Portland, OR 24. Charlotte 25. Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville) |
26. Baltimore 27. Indianapolis 28. San Diego 29. Nashville 30. Hartford-New Haven 31. Kansas City 32. Columbus, OH 33. San Antonio 34. Salt Lake City 35. Milwaukee 36. Cincinnati 37. Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson 38. West Palm Beach-Ft Pierce 39. Austin 40. Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek 41. Las Vegas 42. Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News 43. Birmingham (Anniston, Tuscaloosa) 44. Oklahoma City 45. Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York 46. Greensboro-High Point-W Salem 47. Albuquerque-Santa Fe 48. Jacksonville 49. Louisville 50. Memphis 51. New Orleans 52. Buffalo 53. Providence-New Bedford 54. Fresno-Visalia 55. Wilkes Barre-Scranton-Hazleton 56. Little Rock-Pine Bluff 57. Richmond-Petersburg 58. Albany-Schenectady-Troy 59. Mobile-Pensacola (Ft Walton Bch) 60. Tulsa |
NOTE: In the table above, the names in parentheses are as specified by Nielsen, and they are interpreted to be additional local areas included. For instance, in the case of #25, Fayetteville is a nearby town which is not generally considered to be "part of" Raleigh-Durham, while the towns of Cary and Research Triangle Park would be considered part of Raleigh-Durham and aren't listed separately. In a few cases, the areas stretch across state lines, like #59.
In case you are wondering, just missing the cutoff of 60 are Knoxville, Fort Myers / Naples, Lexington (KY), Dayton, and areas around Wichita, Charleston WV, Roanoke, Green Bay, Honolulu, and Flint. That doesn't mean you shouldn't ask your local station for video description, however! See the FCC's interpretation of the requirement under Who Must Provide Video Description on our TV page.
