CEA, NCTA Lobby FCC Against Some User Interface Accessibility Rules

CEA and NCTA urged the FCC not to add some rules on user interface accessibility, filings in docket 12-107 show. With a Further NPRM having been issued on the subject, CEA said the agency should stick to the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act in that CVAA doesn't allow any restrictions on how closed captioning display settings are accessed. Requiring makers of consumer electronics to post online information about display accessibility "could be reasonable," but the FCC shouldn't start a labeling requirement for equipment makers, CEA said its in-house and outside lawyers told staffers in the Consumer and Governmental Affairs and Media bureaus. NCTA members have made "significant progress" on CVAA, association attorneys told staffers in those two bureaus. New rules on accessing enhanced captioning display and navigation features beyond turning them on and off could "contravene" Section 205, NCTA said. The agency should "maintain a flexible approach as to what is considered a compliant mechanism for activating closed captioning," NCTA said. "Any requirement to integrate specific data about public, educational, and governmental (PEG) access programming in program guides would impose significant burdens on the industry."