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The Descriptive Video Service (DVS), created by WGBH-TV in Boston [1], is used by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the U.S. to provide video description for the visually impaired, so they can better understand what is happening on the video portion of the program. This greatly improves the experience and makes it much more valuable to blind and visually impaired viewers. Some shows on PBS are now being broadcast with descriptive video being provided by other services, usually with less detailed descriptions.

An example might be on a program about Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. As the geyser starts, the DVS announcer would describe the scene:

"Boiling water bubbles up from the hole in the middle of the flat ground, and quickly begins shooting into the beautiful cobalt blue sky above it. The 100-foot tall stream sprays water and steam downwind, until it begins to gradually subside and retreat back into the earth."

While this may be obvious to those who can see the screen, these details must be described to those with vision impairments, which is the purpose of DVS. The DVS announcer is usually the opposite gender of the main announcer, to eliminate potential confusion between the two.

DVS is accessible on any TV with multichannel television sound (MTS) on the second audio program (SAP) setting. When DVS programming is not being transmitted, the local National Public Radio station (or state NPR network) is often heard instead. Other choices that may be heard are the regular audio, weather, or Spanish language. Regular audio is nice as the channel can be left on SAP all the time with DVS showing up when available. Often (PBS, CBS, ABC) the DVS sound track is at much lower volume and on commercial channels, local ads blast at much higher volume than network ads. Some network ads have DVS included.

DVS programming on television was introduced in 1990 and grew steadily over the next decade. A number of PBS programs and some commercial television programming (such as The Simpsons) used DVS. However, a federal court ruled in 2002 that the Federal Communications Commission had exceeded its jurisdiction by requiring broadcasters in the top 25 markets to carry video description. Since that time, the amount of new DVS programming has declined, and WGBH has withdrawn from supporting the service. It no longer updates its web page and ceased publication of its electronic guide to upcoming DVS programs in early 2005. It is still updating its list of DVS movies as shown by the 2006 DVD of United 93 appearing in the list.

DVS audio tracks appear in select DVD movies. Some cinemas also make DVS available, usually in conjunction with Rear Window Captioning.

• Dora the Explorer
• Blue's Clues
• Rugrats
• All Grown Up
• Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
• SpongeBob SquarePants ( every episode with DVS narration by Ttria Sakikini who described some Dora the Explorer episodes from 2000, at the start of every episode, she reads the title for the episode, and she reads the episode credits)