National Association of the Deaf

The Consumer Information Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received close to 1,000 e-mail notes, letters, and phone calls from people who were worried about the possibility that closed captioning of broadcast and cable-cast television programming might drop in the coming months. The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) has received many of these same contacts.

Consumers feared that the U.S. Department of Education, which currently funds much captioning of television programming, might reduce its funding of captioning because the Department is required, under a new law, to caption only programming that is "educational," "news," or otherwise "informational" as of October 1, 2001.

The NAD wishes to point to the fact that the Department of Education currently awards contracts to provide captioning beyond the October 1, 2001, date. As far as we now know, the Department does not plan to cease funding of captioning on television, contrary to rumor.

In fact, we should see much more captioning in the future, even though it may not be paid for by the U.S. Department of Education. A different law, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, requires television producers and broadcasters (including cable-cast television programming) to caption their own programs. Under final regulations adopted by the FCC, broadcasters must caption 50 per cent of new programming beginning January 1, 2002, and 75 per cent of new programming beginning January 1, 2004. By January 1, 2006, they must caption almost 100 per cent of new programming! There are some specific exemptions. These FCC requirements apply whether or not any U.S. Department of Education funding is available to help pay for the captioning.

If consumers find that programming is not captioned, or is inadequately captioned, there are two ways to file complaints.Consumers are encouraged to contact the distributor directly (e.g., ABC-TV; AOL Time Warner, etc.). They may also send an informal complaint directly to the FCC. The Commission is limited in what it can do in response to such informal complaints, because the FCC cannot order penalties or sanctions based upon informal complaints. The address to use for the FCC is:
Disabilities Rights Office (DRO)
Consumer Information Bureau
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street SW, Room 6C-447
Washington, DC 20554

You may also send informal complaints to the FCC electronically at: access@fcc.gov.

Formal complaints must be sent in writing to the video program distributor. If the distributor does not respond satisfactorily, you can file a formal complaint with the FCC. For information and assistance with filing informal or formal complaints, contact the FCC Consumer Information Bureau at the address above.

Finally, the NAD notes that many videos used in educational programs are not affected by the above information. Videos and films that are produced by schools, museums and other organizations that get federal financial assistance must be captioned. Videos and films that are produced by places of public accommodation or government offices must be captioned, because the Americans with Disabilities Act requires these places to communicate effectively, using "auxiliary aids and services" such as captioning. The NAD remains extremely concerned that too few films and videos are being captioned.

The NAD encourages individuals and organizations that share these concerns to communicate with us. Please send email to nadinfo@nad.org, or contact the NAD Headquarters at 301-587 1788 voice, 301-587-1789 TTY, or 301-587-1791 FAX.

* File renamed Sept. 2001 to avoid confusion with the current NAD Position Statement on Captioning.