New Captioning Rules for Video Distributors

The FCC has issued a Public Notice reminding Video Programming Distributors to register their captioning contact information. The information was due by March 22 but the notice suggests many organizations have not complied. Distributors who fail to comply will likely face fines. The new FCC closed captioning rule requires video programming distributors to pick a contact person for handling immediate closed captioning concerns and a contact person for receiving written captioning complaints. This information is to be posted on Web sites and submitted to the FCC. This information must be within 10 days of being current. The Commission plans to maintain a database open to the public.