US access group calls for end to caption exemptions

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Monday, 7 March 2011 11:50am

The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), urging that television be fully captioned.

According to the Closedcaptioning.net website, while captioning on the main US channels is at or close to 100%, the FCC’s caption regulations still include some types of programming which are exempt.

COAT is arguing that captioning has become easier and less expensive in recent years, and these exemptions should be eliminated. They include:

  • Programs broadcast between 2 am and 6 am
  • Locally produced non-news programming
  • Programs on channels with annual revenues of less than $3 million

The petition can be viewed on the COAT access website.

COAT is also asking that captions created using the electronic newsroom technique (ENT) should not count towards complying with caption requirements. In this technique, captions for news bulletins are created from teleprompter scripts, but live elements of the program are left uncaptioned.


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