Closed Captioning of Video Programming

DEEPER READ

This FCC rule addresses overlapping and potentially redundant certification and registration requirements in the closed captioning regulatory framework. Specifically, it targets video programmers who supply content to PEG channels, which are local access channels typically operated by communities, schools, or governments and carried on cable systems. Where those PEG channels are already exempt from closed captioning rules, the programmers providing content to them no longer need to separately register with the FCC or certify their own captioning compliance. The rule also addresses situations where PEG channels are not exempt from captioning requirements. In those cases, the burden of certifying compliance shifts to the channel administrators rather than requiring each individual programmer to file separately. This consolidation of filing responsibility is intended to reduce duplicative paperwork without weakening the underlying captioning protections that benefit viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing. A parallel change applies to nonbroadcast network programmers. If a nonbroadcast network distributed by a cable operator or other multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) certifies that it is either exempt from captioning rules or that its entire linear programming lineup complies with those rules, the individual content providers supplying programming to that network are relieved of their own separate certification obligations. The legal basis for this action rests with the FCC's authority to administer closed captioning rules established under the Communications Act. The rule is primarily administrative in nature, reorganizing who bears the certification responsibility rather than eliminating captioning requirements themselves. The core obligation to provide closed captions on qualifying programming remains intact. Those most directly affected include small and volunteer-run PEG programmers, community access producers, and smaller content providers on nonbroadcast networks, who previously faced regulatory filing requirements even when their programming was already covered by exemptions or by another party's certification. Cable operators and MVPDs are also affected insofar as the distribution chain responsibilities are clarified.

AS PUBLISHED

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) exempts video programmers for public, educational, and governmental access (PEG) channels from the requirement to register with the Commission and to certify captioning compliance if the PEG video programmers provide video programming exclusively to PEG channels that are exempt from closed captioning requirements. Additionally, providers of PEG programming are relieved of filing obligations if the administrators of non-exempt PEG channels certify compliance for programming carried on such channels. The Commission similarly exempts providers of programming carried on nonbroadcast networks for distribution by a cable operator or other multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) from certifying when the nonbroadcast network itself certifies that it is exempt or that all programming comprising the network's linear line-up is either exempt from or compliant with the closed captioning rules.

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