Consumer groups representing the hearing impaired would support...
Consumer groups representing the hearing impaired would support a one year phase-in period for rules requiring the captioning of online video clips, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, National Association for the Deaf and others told FCC staff…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
from the Media Bureau, Consumer and Governmental Affairs bureau and the Disability Rights Office in a meeting last week, according to an ex parte filing released Tuesday. “The record in this proceeding plainly establishes that extracting and repurposing captioning data is possible using readily available and easy-to-use software. No substantive evidence on the record supports the conclusion that performing that same extraction and repurposing is intractably difficult for video clips,” said the consumer groups. “Technical difficulties that remain in captioning video clips are unlikely to be overcome unless and until the Commission requires clips to be captioned.” The groups also responded to NAB complaints that captioning clips could be a burden for broadcasters “by noting the continued availability of economic burden exemptions under the CVAA and the Commission’s rules,” the filing said. NAB’s contentions are “devoid of specific economic data,” the consumer groups said.