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TV Captioning

To refer others to this page, please use:
http://www.nad.org/television

Television has become an integral part of American society. It has become the most important medium from which Americans obtain instantaneous information from news and keep up with new developments and information about the world around us. Deaf and hard of hearing Americans, in order to stay on par with fellow citizens, must have full access to television programs. The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) developed a position statement and provides instructions on how to file a complaint.

FCC Seeks Comments on Closed Captioning Rules

As a result of a petition submitted by the NAD, TDI, SHHH, DHHCAN, and ALDA, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has begun a rulemaking process to examine the FCC closed captioning rules for television. Closed captioning is an integral and crucial part of a deaf and hard of hearing person's daily life and personal safety. However, despite the FCC's current closed captioning rules, there continues to be woeful captioning access -- no access or poor quality -- in broadcast captions.

This will be the biggest change in captioning rules in years.
 
The FCC seeks comments on whether additional enforcement mechanisms should be required to ensure full compliance with its rules and to increase the accountability for noncompliance with its rules. The FCC seeks comments on the following areas: 

• non-technical quality standards for closed captioning
• technical quality standards for closed captioning
• monitoring of captioning
• complaint procedures
• accessibility of contact information
• standardized FCC complaint form for consumers to use
• fines and penalties for failure to caption
• requirement for compliance reports by broadcasters
• availability of captioners to provide live and pre-broadcast captions

To read the original petition, see:
http://www.nad.org/fcccaptionpetitions

Position Statement

Captioning on television was made possible by the invention of the closed-captioning decoder and the passage of the 1990 Television Decoder Circuitry Act. However, the NAD strives for equal access in its NAD Position Statement on Television Access, developed in 1994, which still reflects the NAD position today.

The NAD Position Statement on Television Access states that all television programming must be closed-captioned 24/7 regardless of program content or other conditions, live programming must be captioned by “real-time” captioning technology, and text messages for emergency broadcasts are to be provided in a manner that does not hinder captions.

The NAD cannot fight this battle alone. It needs the assistance of advocates throughout the country to monitor television channels and notify the companies and FCC when channels are not captioned by filing a captioning complaint.

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NAD Advocacy:
• TV Captioning Main Page
• Position Statement on TV Captioning
• Digital Captioning Standards
• FCC Petitions

TV Captioning News:
• Captions on TV Not Decreasing
• The National Association of the Deaf Reacts to the FCC Report and Order on Captioning
• And the Captioning Struggle Continues...
• Current Levels of Funding for Captioning Urged by NAD
• Education Secretary Riley Responds to Senators on Springer Caption Funding
• NAD Achieves Important Captioning Victory

TV Guide Advocacy
• TV Guide magazine response to NAD letter
• NAD Advocacy Successfully Reinstates TV Guide Caption Icons
• Complaint sent to "TV Guide" magazine

Captioning Censorship
• Television Captioning Censorship Hurts Family Values
• Approved and Disapproved Television Programs
• NAD Applauds NCD Opposition To Captioning Censorship

Digital Captioning Standards
• NAD and CAN Comments on Digital TV Standards

FCC Captioning Petition
• NAD Urges Comments on Closed Captioning Rules

Legal Rights:
• Broadcast and Cable
• Video, Film, Other Media
• Public Schools
• Political Advertising

Take Action:
• Support the TV Captioning Petition
• Spread the Word about the TV Captioning Petition Action Alert
• File a captioning complaint