TDI eNotes – February 26, 2010
In this issue:
- FCC ANNOUNCES NEW CLOSED CAPTIONING COMPLAINT PROCEDURE
FCC Announces New Closed Captioning
Complaint Procedure
TDI Editor’s Note:
This action by the FCC is in response to part of TDI’s Petition for Rulemaking regarding captioning quality standards filed on July 23, 2004. The new procedure was first announced by the FCC on November 7, 2008 pending review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which became effective as of February 19, 2010. Thanks to the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and Northern Virginia Resource Center (NVRC) for their part in sending out this announcement.
Consumers can now file complaints directly with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), thanks to new closed captioning complaint rules by the FCC effective February 19, 2010. These new closed captioning rules, requested by TDI and other consumer groups in 2004, make it easier for consumers to report closed caption problems. When you see a television program that has no captions, missing captions, delayed captions, captions that are garbled, displayed too fast, or unreadable, please file a complaint with the FCC.
Filing Closed Captioning Complaints
Closed captioning complaints must be filed within 60 days of the captioning problem.
File your complaint with the FCC. The FCC will send your complaint to your video programming distributor (the TV station or your cable or satellite TV service). The distributor must respond to your complaint within 30 days.
Online
You can file your complaint by using the FCC’s online Disability Access Complaint Form #2000C at https://esupport.fcc.gov/sform2000/formC!input.action?form_page=2000C
**TDI Editor’s Note:
Disability Access Complaint Form 2000C on the FCC’s website erroneously states that if your complaint is about closed captioning, you must first contact the station or video programming distributor. Cheryl Heppner at NVRC corresponded with the staff at the Disability Rights Office in the FCC who assured us that, in accordance with the new rules, the FCC will accept this web form without your first trying to contact the video programming distributor. The form will be changed shortly, but in the meantime, contacting the station is not required.
File your complaint by email to fccinfo@fcc.gov
Fax
Fax your written complaint to 1-866-418-0232
Letter
Mail your complaint letter to:
Federal Communications Commission
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
Consumer Complaints
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
For more information:
Click here at http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm?sid=&id=d1e3 for more information about filing complaints, or call the FCC for assistance, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (eastern time), at 1-888-225-5322 or 1-888-835-5322 TTY.
See the Closed Captioning Factsheet for more information about closed captioning athttp://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/closedcaption.html.
OR
You may file your complaint with the video programming distributor (the TV station or your cable or satellite TV service). The distributor must respond to your complaint within 30 days. If the distributor cannot solve the problem, or you are not satisfied with the response you receive (or if you receive no response), you can send your complaint to the FCC.
New Contact Information Requirements
The FCC also adopted new rules requiring video programming distributors to make their contact information available to consumers. Specifically, video programming distributors are required to make two kinds of contact information available:
- Contact information for the receipt and handling of immediate closed captioning concerns by consumers, such as when captions suddenly disappear or become garbled while watching a program.
- Contact information for written closed captioning complaints.
This contact information must be provided:
- on the video programming distributor’s website
- in billing statements (when billing statements are issued), and
- when extended listings are published in telephone directories.
Video programming distributors must provide this contact information to the FCC by March 22, 2010. The FCC will publish a Public Notice when this contact information is available in a searchable database on the FCC website. This contact information will also be available by calling the FCC call the FCC for assistance, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (eastern time), at 1-888-225-5322 or 1-888-835-5322 TTY.
