FCC Includes Broadcasters on Advisory Committee

By Doug Lung
published


Last week the FCC announced members of the Video Programming and Emergency Access Advisory Committee (VPEAAC).

Broadcast community members include Mark Turits from CBS and Kelly Williams from NAB. Other names on VPEAAC familiar to broadcasters include Wayne Luplow from LG Electronics, Clyde Smith from Turner Broadcasting System, and Eric Small from Modulation Sciences, Inc.

The VPEAAC will focus on matters pertaining to IP closed captioning, video description, access to emergency information and user interface accessibility.

At its first meeting on January 13, VPEAAC will be divided into four working groups with specific tasks.

Working Group 1 will deal with IP closed captioning and the protocols, technical capabilities and procedures needed to encode, transport, receive and render it. Working Group 2 will focus on passthrough of closed captioning and video description, offering recommendations to ensure compatibility between video programming delivered using IP and the devices receiving and displaying the programming. Working Group 3 covers emergency information and ways to make it available on video programming in a manner accessible to persons who are blind or visually impaired. Working Group 4 has the task of identifying and recommending the standards, protocols, and procedures needed to make user interfaces, apparatus functions, on screen text menus and video programming guides and menus provided on navigation devices accessible.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.