January 11, 2006

Closed Captioning: More Requirements, Fewer Exemptions in Place for 2006

from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters

Now that we are into the New Year television broadcasters are doing their best to comply with additional FCC requirements for closed captioning. The Commission provides guidance from its website at:

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/captioning_regs.html

You should still consult with your own legal counsel about some of the specifics. Meanwhile the MAB is working on several angles:

Many broadcasters and churches sought exemptions for the broadcast of local religious services, a staple of weekend programming for many communities.
It is unclear whether the Commission will extend any of the granted exemptions beyond a 90-day grace period during which broadcasters and churches are supposed to implement their closed captioning solutions.
The Commission also has been unclear about what constitutes an "undue burden" for a station or program provider to claim an exemption. MAB is working with other state associations for a clarification.

The FCC requirements exempt advertisements of five minutes or less duration, and specifically exempt PSAs, but MAB’s legal counsel in Washington recommends that some NCSA spots should be closed captioned.
The reason: Some of them involve federal money.
In a recent communication, attorney Dick Zaragoza wrote: "…whether an NCSA announcement is viewed by the FCC as a ‘commercial’ or as a ‘PSA,’ or something in-between (as we view it), there appears to be no reasonable basis for the FCC to conclude that a 30 or 60 second NCSA announcement must be closed captioned."
That said, some NCSA messages might be considered as borderline emergency messages and would be subject to CC requirements.
Although not required by the FCC, Zaragoza continues to recommend that certain NCSA announcements be closed captioned to satisfy other federal requirements.
In some cases the federal government is the source of grant money that state agencies use to fund NCSA campaigns.

MAB will soon convene a meeting of its TV and News Issues committees to examine other questions that have arisen since the new requirements went into effect and to discuss meetings with advocacy groups that represent the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.

If you have discovered issues or problems with meeting the more stringent requirements or if you have discovered unique ways of dealing with them, please contact Larry Crittenden at MAB.

back to MediaStormwatch