What is Secondary Audio Programming (SAP)?
A secondary audio program (SAP) service is carried along side a television channel as an alternative to the standard audio that accompanies the video portion of a program. Listeners can choose this secondary audio signal through either a television, a stereo VCR equipped to receive SAP signals, or a special SAP receiver. A portable SAP receiver allows traveling individuals to catch all the audio from their favorite television show. The SAP feature allows a TV station to broadcast other information to the viewer through the audio receive system. That other information could be the same program audio in another language, or something completely different, such as weather information or Descriptive Video Services (DVS) for the visually impaired. DVS is a service where a narrator describes the action of a scene during pauses in the dialogue. Audiences can hear that an actor sadly buries his face in his hands, for example. As another example of S.A.P. application, ABC regularly provides Spa
