International policy and legislation

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CNN sued for not captioning its online videos

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A judge in California has refused to dismiss a suit by the Greater Los Angeles Agency for Deafness (GLAD) against CNN for not captioning news clips on its website.

CNN captions all of its television broadcasts, as required by federal law, but none of its online content is captioned. In the suit, GLAD alleged that CNN and its owner, Time Warner, were violating state disability laws by denying full access to deaf Californians.


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UK discount airline faces legal action over inaccessible website

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The UK discount airline BMI Baby faces a legal case for its inaccessible website. The complaint was made this week by the Royal National Institute of Blind People, which claims the BMI Baby website is inaccessible for people who are blind or vision impaired.

The discount airline failed to make changes to its website after the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in the UK recommended a specific set of modifications in a report that was commissioned by BMI Baby.


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SKY New Zealand launches captions

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On 1 February, New Zealand’s main subscription TV provider, SKY Television, introduced closed captioning on 13 of its channels: Animal Planet, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, TCM, TV1, TV2, TV3, Cartoon Network, and Crime & Investigation.

“I know this new service will be very valuable to the Deaf and hearing impaired - while it is a niche audience, it's a step towards more equal access and we are delighted to offer it," said SKY’s Chief Executive, John Fellet.

Captioning on New Zealand free-to-air channels including TV1, TV2 and TV3 are funded by New Zealand on Air, which is in turn funded by the New Zealand government. SKY initially sought funding for from New Zealand on Air for its captioning service.


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American churches apply for caption exemptions

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Around 80 churches in the USA have filed new applications with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for an exemption from closed caption rules, following a change to the way the FCC treats these applications.

In 2005, The Christian Angler Outdoors Television Show applied to the FCC for a caption exemption which was granted on the basis that it was a non-commercial program which did not attract any revenue. Following the so-called Anglers Order, a further 300 organisations were granted exemption from national captioning rules.

Deaf and hearing impaired advocacy groups objected strongly to this, arguing that the FCC had created a new category of exempted programming, and that all an organisation had to do to be eligible for an exemption was to state it was not-for-profit.


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