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1. What are the FCC requirements for television programming?
As directed by Congress in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the
Federal Communications Commission (Commission or FCC) has adopted
rules requiring closed captioning of most, though not all,
television programming. The rules became effective January 1, 1998.
This fact sheet provides general answers to questions that may arise
about the implementation of the rules. The rules can be found at the
Commission's web site, www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/caption.html. For further
information, please contact the Commission toll-free at
1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322); TTY 1-888-TELL-FCC
(1-888-835-5322); or (202) 418-7096; TTY (202) 418-7172.
The rules create transition periods during which the amount of
closed captioned programming will gradually increase. Under the
rules, there are two categories of programming: new programming and
pre-rule programming. Certain exemptions from the captioning
requirements apply to both categories of programming.
New Programming: Programs first shown on or after
January 1, 1998, are considered "new" programming. Under the
rules, 100% of new, non-exempt programs must be captioned over an
eight year period. Compliance with the captioning requirements
will be determined on a quarterly basis. In other words, the
Commission will look at how much captioning is provided in each of
the four calendar quarters: January-March; April-June;
July-September; and October-December.
The rules set up the following schedule for new programs: In 2000
and 2001, video program distributors must provide at least 450
hours of captioned new programs per channel during each calendar
quarter. In 2002 and 2003, that number will increase to 900 hours
per channel, per calendar quarter. In 2004 and 2005, that number
will increase to an average of 1,350 hours per channel, per
calendar quarter. As of January 1, 2006, 100% of the distributor's
new, nonexempt programs must be provided with captions. Pre-rule Programming: Programs first shown before
January 1, 1998, are considered "pre-rule" programming. Under the
rules, 75% of pre-rule, non-exempt programs must be captioned over
a ten year period.
The rules set up the following schedule for pre-rule programming:
At least 30% of a channel's pre-rule programming during each
calendar quarter must be captioned beginning on January 1, 2003.
Beginning January 1, 2008, distributors must provide captions for
75% of the pre-rule, non-exempt programs they distribute on each
channel during each calendar quarter.
(Courtesy FCC website)
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2. What does the American's with Disabilities Act (ADA) say
about captioning?
SEC. 402. CLOSED-CAPTIONING OF PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS.
Section 711 of the Communications Act of 1934 is amended to read
as follows: "SEC. 711. CLOSED-CAPTIONING OF PUBLIC SERVICE
ANNOUNCEMENTS. "Any television public service announcement that is
produced or funded in whole or in part by any agency or
instrumentality of Federal Government shall include closed
captioning of the verbal content of such announcement. A
television broadcast station licensee-- "(1) shall not be required
to supply closed captioning for any such announcement that fails
to include it; and "(2) shall not be liable for broadcasting any
such announcement without transmitting a closed caption unless the
licensee intentionally fails to transmit the closed caption that
was included with the announcement.".
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3. What is Section 508?
Section 508 requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure,
maintain, or use electronic and information technology, Federal
employees with disabilities have access to and use of information
and data that is comparable to the access and use by Federal
employees who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an
undue burden would be imposed on the agency. Section 508 also
requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of
the public seeking information or services from a Federal agency,
have access to and use of information and data that is comparable
to that provided to the public who are not individuals with
disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the
agency.
All training and informational video and multimedia productions
which support the agency's mission, regardless of format, that
contain speech or other audio information necessary for the
comprehension of the content, shall be open or closed captioned.
(courtesy Section508.gov)
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4. Why should I caption? Who uses them?
28 million people in the United States have some level of hearing
loss which is about 10% of the population. These people and their
families (amounting to close to 70 million people) rely on
captions to provide them with accessibility to television
programs. 2-5 hearing viewers watch captions with each deaf and
hard of hearing person. Only 20% of the hard of hearing people use
hearing aides and only 10% know American Sign Language.
In addition to deaf and hard of hearing audiences, others such as
people learning English (28 million) and children learning to read
(18 million). People watching TV in places where the sound can't
be turned up such as athletic clubs, hospitals, airports, bars,
restaurants or when the baby is sleeping.
The Television Decoder Circuitry Act has been in effect since
July, 1993; it requires all television sets with screens 13 inches
or larger sold in the United States to be equipped with a built-in
caption decoder. Since that time, 20 million new households a year
have been able to access closed captions with a flick of the
remote control.
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5. What is offline captioning?
Offline captioning means captioning that is added to pre-produced
programs mastered on videotape. It's otherwise known as Post
Production Captioning. We start with your video (and script, if
available.) We'll transcribe the audio, break the resulting text
into individual captions, add timng reference points to each
caption to tell it when to come on the television screen. Then
we'll proof the captions, and finally embed or "encode" the
captions onto line 21 of the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of a
new videotape now called the caption master. When you at home turn
on your television's closed caption "decoder" usually through the
TV's menu, you'll be able to see captions on your favorite
program, if they've been added as above. produce either open or
closed captions, depending on your needs.
What do I need to provide?
Your master or VHS copy of your master with time code on audio
channel 2, and an electronic or hard copy script if available.
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6. What is the difference between open and closed captions?
Open captions are captions that are "burned" into the video
meaning they are always present and cannot be turned on or off.
Closed captions are just the opposite. They are embedded onto the
videotape and can be turned on or off using your television's
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7. How long does it take to get something captioned?
We generally need one week for turn-around, but we're familiar
with production and we know that there will be times where you'll
need a quicker turn-around than this. We should be able to
accommodate the occasional quick turn-around at no extra charge.
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8. How do you measure/judge quality?
Our realtime captioners access scripts to confirm correct proper
name spelling and prepare in advance for broadcasts. We know our
accuracy rate exceeds 98.5% because we check. Our quality guru is
a retired English teacher. Our captioners submit all of the
caption files from broadcasts and a random sample of their work is
graded on spelling and punctuation.
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9. Anything else I need to know? Why even consider any caption
company other than LNS?
Quality. To quote a phrase, "It's job number 1" to us. Over a
decade ago, we started out with ideal of creating captions that
allowed deaf viewers as close the same experience as their hearing
counterparts. But what is quality? To us it means doing the extra
things such as researching correct spelling and punctuation
(believe it or not, this is something many companies don't pay
attention to.) We formulate the captions for maximum readability,
place captions so they don't obscure graphics, and time them to be
synchronous with the audio and video so you know who's saying
what, when. Again, things that would be common sense, but often
get bypassed as other companies look for cost-cutting measures.
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10. What is C.A.R.T.? (Realtime Event Captioning)
Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) provides access
for deaf and hard of hearing participants to events, conventions,
conferences classes, public hearings, presentations and meetings.
Realtime captioners offer an immediate, verbatim, voice-to-text
translation via realtime captioning. Our captioner attends the
event and provides an individual view on a laptop display or
connects to a projector or television to give the whole audience
access to captions.
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11. What equipment does a broadcasting station need to have to
use realtime captioning?
The station needs to have a closed caption encoder, 2 audio lines
(one for the audio for the captioner and one to send the caption
data into the encoder), and an audio coupler to allow audio from
the broadcast to be sent via telephone line.
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