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FCC Seeks Additional
Comments on Closed Captioning Issues Comments Due November 24th
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The FCC recently released a
Public Notice seeking additional comments on various closed captioning issues
that were initially raised in rulemaking proceedings in 2005 and 2008. The
FCC seeks to “refresh the record” in these proceedings in light of the
completion of the DTV transition, advances in captioning technology, the
expanded availability of captioning services nationwide and the fact that
many of the FCC’s captioning benchmarks have been achieved.
Specifically, the FCC seeks comments and information on the following
subjects: Non-Technical
Quality Standards The
FCC seeks additional comments on whether it should establish quality
standards for non-technical aspects of closed captioning, such as accuracy of
transcription, spelling, grammar, punctuation and caption placement. It
also asks what the implementation of such standards would cost to program
producers and distributors, including television stations, whether there are
a sufficient number of competent caption providers available to meet such a
captioning standard mandate, and whether different captioning standards
should apply to live and pre-recorded programming. Monitoring
and Enforcement The
FCC also seeks additional comments on whether there is a need for mechanisms
and procedures in addition to the “pass through rule” (which requires video
programming distributors to deliver captioned programming with the captioning
data intact), to prevent technical problems from occurring and to
expeditiously remedy any problems that arise. The FCC currently
requires video programming distributors to monitor and maintain their
equipment and signal transmissions to ensure that captioning information
actually reaches consumers, but has not established any mandated monitoring
or maintenance steps that must be followed. The FCC also inquires
whether it should establish specific per-violation forfeiture amounts for
captioning violations, and whether video programming distributors, such as
television stations, should be required to file closed captioning reports
with the FCC. Electronic
News Gathering Technique Closed
captions created through the electronic news gathering technique (“ENT”) only
include text transmitted from the scripting computers to the
teleprompters. Unscripted material, such as breaking news, live reports
from the field, and some weather and sports reports that do not appear on the
teleprompter are not typically captioned by this method. Currently,
major national broadcast networks (i.e., ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC),
affiliates of these networks in the top 25 DMAs, and national non-broadcast
networks serving at least 50% of all homes subscribing to multi-channel video
programming services are not permitted to count ENT-captioned programming
towards compliance with the closed captioning rules. The FCC now asks
whether the use of ENT should be prohibited in markets beyond the top 25
DMAs. Multicasting Finally,
the FCC seeks additional information on how the closed captioning exemption
for channels producing revenues of less than $3 million should apply to
digital multicast channels. In 2008, the FCC sought comments on whether
each programming stream on a multicast channel should be treated as a
separate channel for purposes of determining whether the channel had produced
more than $3 million in revenue during the prior year. The FCC now asks
what the potential ramifications would be if it concluded that each multicast
stream were deemed to be a separate channel. Comments
in this proceeding are due by November 24th, with reply comments
due December 9th. If you are interested in filing comments
in this proceeding, or have any questions concerning the FCC’s closed
captioning rules, please contact your primary attorney in this office. November 4, 2010 |
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This memorandum is intended only as a general discussion of these issues and should not be regarded as legal advice. We would be pleased to provide additional details or advice about specific situations if desired. Copyright © 2010, Lerman Senter PLLC 2000 K Street NW,
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