NVRC News 7/11/11 NAD #9 Broadband Plan, Part 2- Activities, Regulations, Celebration, Captioning
Filed under: ADA Accessibility and Advocacy, Captioning, Technology
The National Broadband Plan and You, Part 2
By Cheryl Heppner, 7/11/10
More from the presentation by Karen Peltz Strauss –
More on the FCC’s Activities
- There will be a website link to the Disability Rights Office, information about workshops, access to fact sheets, an easy link to the form to file closed captioning complaints, and access to the new list of video program distributors to report a problem when watching TV captions. Overall the FCC is trying to dramatically expand and increase its communication with consumers.
- New rulemakings will be coming in the next few months to bring rules up to date:
- A Notice of Inquiry on real time text will be released in the third quarter of 2010. This will ask for feedback on what existing technology is already available and a reliable, interoperable standard. Real time text is text refers to the ability to type to someone else and have every space and letter you type appear on the screen of the person you are connected to, as soon as you type it. AOL has already been offering real time text for IM.
- An Notice of Inquiry on internet video programming and equipment will be released in the fourth quarter.
Updating Regulations
- Expansion of Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act is crucial. There is hope that H.R. 3101 will pass, as this would make it easier for the FCC by giving them explicit authority to take action on the items contained in the legislation.
- In addition, the FCC plans to address the Section 508 regulations. When the regulations were passed, the Department of Justice was to report each year on the progress for video communication. The last report was done in 2000. An important announcement on Section 508 will be made soon.
- With Section 255, the FCC has not followed through on captioning complaints as it should have. They are now stepping up and bringing these complaints to their Enforcement Bureau. State and local governments who are broadcasting an event or hearing on the Internet must provide captioning just as they would at a physical location, because the Internet becomes their place of public accommodation.
- All laws need to be brought into the 21st century. Technology is advancing at unprecedented speed. The FCC hopes to foster collaboration and problem solving processes among stakeholders and promote the availability of innovative hardware and software.
- The FCC will finally be addressing the closed caption quality petition filed by consumer organizations in 2006. (NVRC played an very active role in this petition, and many of the examples of captioning problems were provided by consumers who reported them to NVRC.
- Four additional public notices will be released and one announcement will be made.
ADA 20th Anniversary Event – July 19
On Monday July 19, 2010 the FCC will have a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This will be a major event. In the morning there will be a closed event at the White House, but an afternoon technology fair to view innovative technology, being held at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, DC, will be open to the public. During the celebration, a video will be unveiled and there will be announcements on a number of proceedings. Karen gave us three hints about the announcements: something on hearing aid compatibility, something on 3D television, and something on Section 504.
The ADA anniversary event will not be available live on the Internet, but it will be taped and then captioned and made available on the Web.
Closed Captioning
- The recent changes in the closed captioning complaint procedures now allow consumers to bring their closed captioning complaints directly to the FCC. There are four people who handle these complaints. This new procedure has sent the message to the industry that they are being watched.
- The FCC required realtime closed captioning for local news in its closed captioning regulations only in the Top 25 markets. The rationale for this decision is that there are 200 areas across the country that are “designated market areas” for broadcasters. The Top 25 of those areas reach a population area so huge that it covers 50% of the U.S. public. The FCC will be looking at different options for expanding the realtime closed captioning requirement to more areas. One idea might be to increase the requirement to cover the Top 75 markets, and another would be to set a timeline to phase in all the remaining markets.
- Later this year the FCC will do an overall re-examination of the hearing aid compatibiity rules.
Questions About Closed Captioning
Q: I have video on demand but it is not captioned, and my provider, Comcast, says there is nothing they can do about this.
Karen: Comcast should not be telling consumers this. Video on Demand has been covered by the captioning regulations since 2006, which requires captioning of all nonexempt English language programs.
Q: I experienced a 3-second delay in captions and was told the engineering standards were set some time ago and there was nothing that could be done. Where do I direct my complaint?
Karen: If there is a three-second delay on all shows, file a complaint with the cable or satellite provider.
- Thanks to NVRC, Fairfax
Captionfish: Find Captioned Movies at a Theater Near You
By Cheryl Heppner 6/3/10
Hurrah for Captionfish!
Have you checked out Captionfish lately? The website had an upgrade in mid-May and there are new things to discover. I just skipped to the website at www.captionfish.com and instantly saw Captionfish’s list of 45 movies showing at 24 theaters within 60 miles of my location. All the movies were labeled to let me know whether they would be open captioned, subtitled, or Rear Window captions. The show times were also listed.
Some Fun Features
- A beta test to list live theater performances with open captions, including future showings at Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center.
- A list of movies that are scheduled to be released with captions over the next few months.
- Movie trailers with open captions.
- A nationwide movie schedule.
- If there’s a movie you want to see, you can sign up to get e-mail notifications when Captionfish finds showtimes in your area.
Captionfish News
Also check out subscribing to Captionfish News by email. The latest edition has this news from Nanci Linke-Ellis:
Q: Why are some movies captioned and others aren’t?
A: As a general rule, all new films being released by the major distributors (Warner Bros, NBC Universal, 20th Century Fox, Sony, Walt Disney and Paramount) have been captioned in one format or another.
In all of these cases, the captions created for use with equipment based systems (i.e. MoPix and\or DTS-CSS), disks with captions are shipped with the print in the film cans upon initial release. For a variety of reason, films change auditoriums during their run, and projectionists sometimes forget to keep the disk with the print, requiring the captioning agency to resend a disk.
In the case of OC films, the print can play in any auditorium. It’s up to the theatre to determine the best size (200 seats or 600 seats) for the film.
In the case of smaller studios, it’s all dependent upon the distribution team. Some of very pro-active. Others require some prodding. Because the same caption files are not necessarily used by the Home Video or multi-platform divisions within the same umbrella company, the separate divisions may decide.
Because so many studios now own, TV, radio, cable and Video On Demand companies, theme parks, etc., and are subject to FCC regulations in specific cases (TV is one), they routinely order captions top to bottom. The reality is that because we are accustomed to captions at home and in certain theatres, we want them everywhere. But each technology requires its own platform – meaning the files have to be reconfigured – and they have to pay each time the files are changed.
Technology is moving way faster than the ability to keep up with captions for all applications. Hopefully digital will provide a simpler method of repeated conversions that can keep pace with the onslaught of content being delivered each day.
Nanci Linke-Ellis, Founder and Executive Director of InSight Cinema, a non-profit organization, has forged alliances with the major film studios and theatre chains to distribute and promote captioned versions of first-run films to deaf and hard of hearing audiences nationwide. During 2007, InSight Cinema’s outreach and advocacy efforts have grown to include live theatre, opera, and all forms of captioned entertainment in the nation.
- Thanks to Cheryl Heppner, NVRC, Fairfax
Senators Pryor and Kerry Introduce Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act (S.3304)
The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) – of which NVRC is a member — thanks Senators Mark Pryor (AR) and John Kerry (MA) for introducing the “Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act” (S. 3304). The measure is a major step forward for people with disabilities in ensuring accessible technology. Also co-sponsoring are Senators Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad, both from North Dakota.
Similar to the “Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act” (H.R. 3101) introduced in the U.S. House, S. 3304 would modernize disability accessibility mandates in the Communications Act, bringing existing requirements up to date as television and phone services connect via the Internet and use new digital and broadband technologies.
Eric Bridges, Director of Advocacy & Government Affairs at the American Council of the Blind (ACB), said, “Much of S. 3304 would lead to greater accessibility for people with disabilities, such as more accessible video programming, including captioning and video description, regardless of distribution mode; and video programming equipment, such as televisions and other display devices, would also be accessible.”
“However, while COAT recognizes that introduction of this Senate bill is a momentous occasion,” said Mark Richert, Director of Public Policy at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), “the measure does not go as far as H.R. 3101 in reaching all the new technologies.”
“The scope of accessible ‘advanced communications’ is not as broad or as well defined as it is in H.R. 3101,” said Rosaline Crawford, Director of the Law and Advocacy Center at the National Association of the Deaf (NAD). “S. 3304 also establishes a new ‘reasonable effort and expense’ standard for compliance. In contrast, in H.R. 3101, companies would comply with accessibility requirements unless doing so results in an ‘undue burden,’ a well established legal standard in disability law.”
“We stand together as a coalition,” said Jenifer Simpson, Senior Director of Government Affairs at the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). “We are confident that these issues – scope of accessible communications and the standard for compliance — will be resolved.”
Contacts:
Rosaline Crawford (NAD) 301-587-7730 (Voice and TTY)
Eric Bridges (ACB) 202-467-5081
Adrianna Montague-Gray (AFB) 212-502-7675
Jenifer Simpson (AAPD) 202-521-4310
Note: DHHSC is a member of COAT as well and supports COAT in their efforts towards greater equal access!
- Thanks to Press Release from COAT, 5/5/10 and NVRC.
Court Rules ADA Requires Closed-Captioned Movies
As we predicted and hoped, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that the Americans with Disabilities Act requires movie theaters to show closed-captioned movies unless doing so would constitute an “undue burden.”
The ruling came in a case that the Arizona Attorney General’s Office filed against the Harkins theater chain. The federal district court ruled that the ADA does not regulate the content of the goods and services offered by businesses, and that the theaters are in the business of showing non-captioned movies. That case was appealed.
The Ninth Circuit opinion said that while ADA does not generally regulate the content of goods and services, ADA does require businesses to provide “auxiliary aids and services,” which are defined as including open and closed captioning. That specific provision applies to movie theaters, and controls over the general rule that ADA does not regulate content.
The court noted that when ADA was passed, a statement of purpose from the House of Representatives stated that ADA does not require theaters to show open-captioned movies. That interpretation has been adopted consistently by the federal Department of Justice, which is empowered to interpret ADA. The court said that while DOJ may change its interpretation, the theaters are entitled to rely on it until it is changed. Therefore, theaters are not required to show open-captioned movies.
The Arizona district court ruled that there was no basis for treating closed-captioned movies any differently. The Ninth Circuit disagreed. It said that open-captioning, in which captions are visible to the entire audience, may fundamentally alter the movie-going experience for others. But closed-captioning displays captions only to people who want to see them. “The difference between open and closed captioning is more than linguistic,” the opinion states.
The case now goes back to the Arizona district court, where the theaters will be able to argue that closed captioning poses an “undue burden.” Because closed captioning is readily available through the Rear Windows Captioning system, the “undue burden” issue is economic only — how much can the theaters afford?
The theaters can ask for a rehearing, but because the decision was unanimous and issued very quickly, the judges likely regarded this as pretty much of a “slam-dunk” case, and are very unlikely to grant a rehearing. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is always a possibility, and is somewhat worrisome given that court’s general hostility to ADA cases. But the U.S. Supreme Court picks the cases it wants to consider, and the odds are against appealing parties — only one out of every hundred petitions for review are granted.
Assuming the opinion stands, it will become the law in the Ninth Circuit states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Hawaii, and may be persuasive in the rest of the country.
Our Washington case is currently under advisement. We brought that case under Washington law only, because our state law avoided some of the arguments made under ADA. However, the decision can’t do anything but help our case.
- Thanks to John Waldo, Wash-CAP, 4/30/10, http://www.hearinglosslaw.com/2010/04/articles/washcap-1/public-facilities/court-rules-ada-requires-closedcaptioned-movies/index.html.
Resources for Online Captioning
Filed under: ADA Accessibility and Advocacy, Captioned Films on the Web, Captioning
This site provides resources for captioning online video. This is a time when new technologies are becoming more available for captioning online videos. Since the law was passed, YouTube and Google Video have now added this feature, so we can expect the captioning of online videos to increase dramatically in the future.
Here are some options for captioning your online videos:
- Use an Online Service
- Caption yourself using internet service
- Use free software to caption ads for QuickTime and Real Media files.
- Use text editing of pre-established files to create captioning
See http://www.mncdhh.org/captions/captioning.html for more information.
- Thanks to Feta and disability.gov website.
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