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NAD Applauds FCC Action on Closed Captioning Rules
By advocacy | December 1, 2008
On November 7, 2008, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a ruling, order, and notice of proposed rulemaking on several closed captioning issues. The NAD applauds the FCC for taking this action. We are pleased that the FCC provided clarification about how the closed captioning rules apply to the transition to digital television (DTV), which will be completed on February 17, 2009. The FCC is also changing the closed captioning rules to provide a more efficient process for consumers to contact television programmers and distributors about closed caption problems and to file complaints. In addition, the FCC has requested and the NAD looks forward to providing comments about how the closed captioning rules should apply to digital broadcasters that “multicast.”
The NAD also thanks the deaf and hard of hearing community for your support, advocacy action, and persistence. The NAD especially thanks everyone who wrote to the FCC about closed captioning. Some of the individuals who wrote to the FCC about closed captioning are identified in the FCC’s order: Jimmy Beldon; C.M. Boryslawskyj; Margaret Bishop; Ed Bosson; Dave Branfield; George Breden; Ron and Joyanne Burdett; Jack Cassell; Marie Desrosiers; Sarah Dixon; Brenda Estes; Anatoliy Feygin; Joshua Finkle; Anatoliy Feygin; Claudia Foy; Peggy Hlibok; Tawny Holmes; Malisa Janes; Marshall Lawrence; Mary Lou Mayfield; Kim Mihan; Philip Moos; Dana Mulvany; David Nelson; Pauline Newton; Andrea Panella; Reyes Preciado; Ricky Schoenberg; Louis Schwarz; Wayne Scott; Rebecca Sneidman; Charley Tiggs; Ronald Vickery; Judith Viera; and Dave Volz.
BACKGROUND
The FCC rules require 100% of all new, non-exempt, English language television video programming to be closed captioned. In July 2004, the NAD, along with other consumer advocacy groups (TDI, HLAA, ALDA, and DHHCAN) filed a petition asking the FCC to improve the closed captioning rules. In July 2005, the FCC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to examine the closed captioning rules. More than 1,600 comments about closed captioning were filed with the FCC, mostly by individual consumers.
Here is a summary of the FCC ruling, order, and notice of proposed rulemaking, released November 7, 2008, which addresses some of our closed captioning issues and concerns. The complete FCC ruling, order, and notice of proposed rulemaking is available at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-08-255A1.pdf.
The NAD, other consumer groups, and individual consumers continue to advocate for improved closed captioning rules; additional monitoring, reporting, and enforcement mechanisms; establishing captioning quality standards; and resolution of old and new closed captioning issues and concerns. For example, we continue to advocate for the establishment of a working group of industry and consumer representatives to address digital closed captioning issues and concerns.
SUMMARY
Ruling and Order
New network exemption: FCC rules allow new networks to be excused from the FCC’s closed captioning requirements for the first four years. The FCC clarifies that networks changing from old analog technology to new digital technology do not qualify for this four-year exemption.
Captioning digital channels: The FCC also clarifies that the closed captioning rules apply the same when a channel using old analog technology changes to new digital technology. Broadcasters that change from old analog technology to new digital technology must continue to provide captioning in accordance with the closed captioning rules as if there had been no change. In addition, broadcasters that transmit the same programming in two formats – one using old analog technology and the other using new digital technology (called “simulcasting”) – must caption both the analog channel and the digital channel the same.
Continue to provide analog captioning: Today, there are two types of captioning. Old analog captions (called CEA-608 captions) display only white text on a black background. New digital captions (called CEA-708 captions) allow viewers to change the size, color, font, and other features of the captions. After the DTV transition on February 17, 2009, many people will continue to use their old analog TV sets with converter boxes to watch free, over-the-air television programs. For old analog TV sets to continue to decode and display analog captions, broadcasters must continue transmitting analog (CEA-608) captions. Broadcasters must also begin captioning in the digital format for viewers who have digital equipment that can decode and display digital (CEA-708) captions.
Pass through captions: When digital networks qualify for an exemption from the FCC’s captioning rules, they must still pass through captions when they broadcast programs that already have captions.
Ensure equipment transmits captions: The FCC reminds “multichannel video programming distributors,” such as cable and satellite television companies, to make sure the equipment they give to their customers (for example, cable set-top boxes) transmits all available captions to the television set, for both analog and digital formatted programs. Captions must be delivered in a way that can be displayed by television caption decoders.
Contact information: The FCC is requiring video programming distributors to provide two types of contact information for reporting closed captioning problems. First, video programming distributors must provide contact information for reporting and handling closed captioning problems quickly. For example, when the captions suddenly disappear while you are watching a television program and you want the station to get the captions turned back on quickly. Second, video programming distributors must provide contact information for filing written closed captioning complaints. For example, when a program has no captions and you believe the program should have captions.
New complaint procedures: The FCC is changing the closed captioning rules to provide a more efficient complaint process. In the past, consumers were required to file closed captioning complaints with the video programming distributor. The new rule permits filing closed captioning complaints directly with the FCC. Consumers must file a closed captioning complaint within 60 days of the captioning problem. Complaints can be filed by e-mail, fax, letter, or by completing FCC Form 2000-C, available online at http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm.
Effective date: The FCC ruling and order must be published in the Federal Register. Publication in the Federal Register is expected soon. The FCC ruling and order will be effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. The NAD will provide details about the new rules when they become effective.
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
With old analog over-the-air broadcasting, broadcasters provide programming on a single channel. With new digital over-the-air broadcasting, broadcasters may provide several streams of programming, known as “multicasting.” To see these new digital over-the-air signals, you need a digital television (or an old analog television with a DTV converter box) and “rabbit ears” or a rooftop antenna. The “main” digital stream is designated by a “channel” number and “-1.” Multicast streams are designated by the same “channel” number and “-2,” “-3,” etc. For example, in the Washington DC area, WRC Channel 4 broadcasts several digital over-the-air programming streams:
main . . . . . . 4-1 . . . . NBC network and local programming
multicast . . . 4-2 . . . . Weather Plus programming
multicast . . . 4-3 . . . . Universal Sports Channel programming
The FCC is now seeking comments about how the closed captioning rules apply to digital multicast programming. For example, under the FCC’s current rules, video programming providers are not required to spend any money to caption any channel that produces less than $3,000,000 gross revenue per year. The FCC did not define what a “channel” means for receiving this exemption. Now, the FCC wants to know whether and how this exemption should apply to digital multicast streams.
Comment due date: The FCC notice of proposed rulemaking must be published in the Federal Register. Publication in the Federal Register is expected soon. Comments are due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
Topics: General |
December 1st, 2008 at 10:44 pm
What about Internet online TV shows like nbc.com cnn.com, etc.
Internet is going to be the mainstream media than digital TV in 5 years from now.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:02 pm
To Freezepop:
The NAD is a founding member of the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT). COAT is advocating for a new law to get captioning of Internet online TV shows. See http://www.COATaccess.org for more information.
NAD Law and Advocacy Center
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Thank you very much, NAD for your tireless advocacy and dedication!
Deaf and hard of hearing television viewers always will be grateful to you and the NAD for being a hard-working and committed advocates of the deaf community.
Yes, many and many deaf people came to me and asked me what I could do for their HDTV captions. I was pretty dumbfounded about what to say and refer them to right person, etc.
Thanks again, NAD and the COAT advocacy organizations.
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
RLMDEAF blog
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:39 am
Hello. I read above where consumers can file complaints directly with the FCC? (”The new rule permits filing closed captioning complaints directly with the FCC. Consumers must file a closed captioning complaint within 60 days of the captioning problem. Complaints can be filed by e-mail, fax, letter, or by completing FCC Form 2000-C, available online at http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm.“)
I went to that link and if you read the form (The new, supposedly friendly FORM 2000C which is here: http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm?sid=&id=d1e3) that you have to fill out to complain to the FCC, it says (well AFTER you have filled out several pages’ worth of info) “Note: If your complaint is about closed captioning only, you must first contact the station or video programming distributor. For additional information, see http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/closedcaption.html.”
The way I read this is that you still have to complain to the distributor and the programmer first. How is this different from the current unwieldy procedure?
Thank you, NAD, for all your hard work on this front!
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
To Rachel:
The new rule permitting filing closed captioning complaints directly with the FCC are not effective yet. So, you are correct. Today, you must first file your complaint first with the station or distributor, before you can file with the FCC.
We must wait 30 days after the new rules are published in the Federal Register. At that time, the new rules will be effective and you will be able to file closed captioning complaints directly with the FCC. At that time, you will be able to ignore the statement on the FCC Form 2000C that says you must first contact the station or distributor.
We expect to post an article here on the NAD Advocacy Blog when the new rules become effective.
NAD Law and Advocacy Center
December 11th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_captioning#HDTV_interoperability_issues
Another closed caption issue, transferring from the television to the “source” causes confusion for the consumers. The television should be the only device, capable of decoding CC and not other “sources”.
Also this deactivates the digital caption features, change font, colors, and size
December 15th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
What is going on with the transition office of the President-Elect. It’s great that they are reaching out directly to the people, but the clear lack of captioning on the YouTube videos (which YouTube offers the functionality to add captions) is becoming a widespread problem.
Does anyone know if the healthcare video that is being touted for local conversations is captioned???
December 29th, 2008 at 11:37 am
In regard to this: “Pass through captions: When digital networks qualify for an exemption from the FCC’s captioning rules, they must still pass through captions when they broadcast programs that already have captions.”
I know that sometimes the reason why captions aren’t passed through is because some networks are actively resistant to passing them through (sometimes because of misunderstanding about the costs involved, sometimes because they’re resistant to anything that involves changing the way they currently do things and don’t value deaf consumers enough to invest in the learning curve).
But sometimes, the issue seems to be that there isn’t a good, clear, easy way to obtain information on what shows have already been captioned in the past (and therefore have captioned versions available somewhere out there, even if not every master copy necessarily has those captions). A TV station may receive a master copy of a given TV program that does not have captions on it. And therefore they may broadcast that copy without ever realizing that this program WAS captioned in the past, and that there IS a mastered copy with captions out there somewhere if they simply knew where to look. How is this issue being addressed?
Re, the future ability to complain directly to FCC regarding problems with captions: I just now checked the FCC form and found that it still (for now) says you have to contact the TV provider before contacting FCC. I see from your comments here that you will announce at the NAD blog when the new regulation comes into effect. I will very much look forward to being able to complain directly to the FCC instead of wasting my time complaining to TV stations that are most likely going to try to claim that the problem must lie with my caption decoder (even when I have provided very clear evidence that it does not) or with some other intermediary such as the cable provider (even when evidence suggests that this is implausible) and just point blank refuse to even INVESTIGATE the problem.
I used to try to complain about captioning problems all the time. But because I so very very very rarely reached a satisfactory resolution to ANY of my complaints, I pretty much gave up trying more than 10 years ago. But once it becomes possible to complain directly to the FCC, I will start doing so on a more regular basis — not necessarily every time I see a problem (because I won’t always have time or energy) but FAR more frequently than now. And I’ll also help publicize this on my blog (reunifygally.wordpress.com) once the new FCC regulations take effect AND they revise their on-line form accordingly.
December 29th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
There are still issue with digital technology cause HDMI do not support (CC) some of deaf people think subtitle is good enough, Hey, some of you got it wrong here because if I want to record the tv show from DVR to TV through HDMI will not work. We need work on FCC rules cause there are too many gap which not cover on cords and device hook up with TV. Also there new process on rental movie online via network do not support subtitle at all! I called Blockbuster and Netflex and Sony Playstation Store which provider all rental movies online about issue and they said sorry nothing we can do for you. Do you know why, there no law against this so we need work on law so they can do something about this issue. Also there are many news video stream on PC do not support (CC) or subtitle which bring us frustrated and I think it’s time for NAD do something with this Digital Age Issue and fix the FCC issue with law for us have more choice and freedom! Thanks for listen to me also I am kind of technology freak and kind of try get them attention but I am only one person not enough to grab their attention so I need your help to fix this. Thank again.
January 5th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Just to share the HDMI official site is http://www.HDMI.org
Q. Does HDMI support Closed Captioning?
Close Captioning
The evolution from analog to digital TV has added some complexity to Close Captioning (CC). With one standard way of broadcasting/transmitting, decoding and displaying content NTSC or PAL, depending on region, analog TV made enabling CC fairly easy across CE devices since the TV was able to do all the CC decoding.
With the advent of digital TV and the introduction of digital HDTV services (cable, satellite, etc.) the responsibility of decoding CC has been taken away from the TVs and put into the various Set Top Boxes (STB) that are required for the majority of the digital HDTV services. Additionally, these STBs now have different ways of enabling CC making it complicated and creating confusion for consumers. All set-top boxes are required to support CC, however the implementation of CC can vary from one product to another. Enabling CC on a specific set-top box can be simple, or more difficult, depending on the implementation.
HDMI, LLC recommends contacting your TV service provider (cable, satellite, etc.) for the correct way to switch on its CC feature as a first step to resolve this issue. The second step is to contact the manufacturers directly for the correct way to enable the CC feature within your product.
HDMI and Close Captioning
All HDMI specifications support Close Captioning (CC) and enable the rendering of CC signals between CE devices. HDMI carries and delivers all the rendered data, in its entirety (including CC), produced from the source device to the display device.
HDMI, LLC is working with all CE vendors and service providers (cable, satellite, etc.) to make them aware of this issue. In addition, we are also encouraging these vendors and service providers to take steps that will address this CC problem which will deliver a more user friendly way for consumers to activate the CC feature.
unacceptable actions…. Televisions should be the only “source” to decode CC not other devices. NAD needs to work on this issue and stop all the blasmy.