The FCC has issued new captioning rules for television. It's part of the
21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act rollout. The commissioner has voted to keep primary responsibility for captions squarely on the shoulders of programmers (like TV broadcasters and cable operators) while shifting some of the burden to video programming owners and producers. In effect, programmers will be responsible for captions on their television shows, while distributors (cable companies) will still be expected to handle the delivery and technical aspects of captioning. Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said:
“Today’s Commission action on closed captioning is about responsibility. Those who produce and distribute video for television have a shared responsibility to ensure that closed captioning is both available and accurate. Likewise, this agency has a responsibility to seize on this moment in time which, for the first time in human history, offers us real opportunities to address the communications challenges faced by tens of millions of Americans with disabilities. We are making significant progress on this front and I thank my fellow Commissioners for joining me in this important work.”
There's also an updated complaint proceedure. Read more
here.
