International policy and legislation
Closed captions required for online TV in USA
Confirmation of the deadline provided by the FCC had been postponed due to members of the Digital Media Association, which include media providers such as Apple, Amazon and Google, arguing that more time was needed to implement the requirements. However, the FCC pushed back and confirmed that TV networks and video sites must provide closed captions on their content –offline or online – by 30 September.
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Australians with disabilities pay too much for IT
ACCAN’s submission to the Inquiry into IT Pricing, which is being conducted by the House Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications, investigated how much Australians pay for software and hardware compared to the rest of the world. In particular, assistive technology costs more here than elsewhere in the world, yet Australians with disability are more likely to be under financial pressure.
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Audio description now mandatory on US television
Audio description was originally made mandatory in 2000 with a ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but this was struck down after a successful legal challenge by the Motion Picture Association. Reinstating it was one of the key provisions of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010, which was signed into law by President Obama in October 2010.
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