FCC Announces Internet Captioning Deadlines

After many years of hard work by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and other organizations and advocates,  the IP closed captioning rules were published in the Federal Register on March 30, 2012 and establishes April 30, 2012 as the effective date for the rules.  According to the rules, video programming shown on the Internet after being shown on television must have captions based on the following schedule established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The new rules require the following schedule for each category of new video programming to begin full captioning compliance:

• September 30, 2012: Prerecorded programming that is not edited for Internet distribution;
• March 30, 2013: Live and near live programming that was recorded within 24 hours of broadcast on television; 
• September 30, 2013: Prerecorded programming that is edited for Internet distribution.

This means that by September 30, 2013, 100% of new video programming shown on television with captions must have captions when shown online. 

By contrast, archival video programming that is already available online but shown or re-aired on television must be shown online with captions based on the following deadlines: 

• The programming must be captioned within 45 days after the date it is shown on television with captions on or after March 30, 2014; 
• The programming must be captioned within 30 days after the date it is shown on television with captions on or after March 30, 2015; 
• Such programming must be captioned within 15 days after the date it is shown on television with captions on or after March 30, 2016.

In addition, the rules require that covered “apparatus” (including computers, smart phones, tablets, DVD and Blu-ray players, and any physical device capable of receiving or playing back video programming simultaneously with sound) sold or manufactured in the United States must have closed captioning capability as of January 1, 2014.

To see our original post about the new rules, please visit:
http://www.nad.org/news/2012/1/fcc-releases-internet-protocol-captioning-rules [2]