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 Stephen  O.  Benson 
 7020  N.  Tahoma  Avenue 
 Chicago,  IL  60646 


 March  22,  2000 
 Magalie  Roman  Salas 
 Office  of  the  Secretary 
 Federal  Communications  Commission 
 445  12th  Street,  SW  TW  A  325 


 Re:  Comments  on  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking  in  the  Matter  of 
 Video  Description  of  Video  Programming 


 Dear  Mr.  Salas: 
 I  vehemently  oppose  mandated  use  of  audio  description  of  visual  images  by 
 television  networks  and  stations  using  the  secondary  audio  programming 
 (SAP)  channel.  Even  though  the  proposal  is  a  limited  mandate,  I  regard  the 
 direction  the  FCC  intends  to  take  on  this  matter  to  be  dangerous  and 
 wasteful.  It  is  crucial  that  emergency  information,  weather,  or  otherwise, 
 be  verbalized,  not  merely  scrawled  across  the  bottom  of  the  screen  by  a 
 character  generator. 


 I  urge  the  FCC  to  take  all  necessary  steps  to  encourage  television  stations 
 to  make  emergency  information,  the  names  of  individuals  interviewed  in  news 
 casts,  and  telephone  numbers,  to  be  available  on  the  SAP,  or  verbalized  by 
 announcers. 


 I  have  viewed  videocassettes  with  narrations  of  sets,  descriptions  of 
 individuals  and  their  actions.  I  found  these  narrations  to  be  intrusive, 
 irritating  and  for  the  most  part,  not  helpful.  They  tell  me  much  more  than 
 is  necessary.  Much  of  what  is  conveyed  in  these  narratives  is  detectable  by 
 sound  and  by  dialogue.  I  know  what  a  car  door  sounds  like  when  it  is  opened 
 and  closed.  It  is  ridiculous  for  the  announcer  to  tell  me  a  car  door  has 
 been  opened  and  closed. 


 Once  again,  descriptive  video  with  regard  to  entertainment  is  fluff  not 
 essential  and  not  desirable.  If  descriptive  video  is  implemented  at  all,  it 
 must  cover  news  and  emergency  information.  If  you  have  any  questions, 
 please  contact  me  at  773-  594-  9977,  or  contact  James  Gashel,  Director  of 
 Governmental  Affairs,  National  Federation  of  the  Blind,  410-  659-  9314. 


 Very  truly, 


 Stephen  O.  Benson 
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