Videogame Software Waiver From ACS Requirements Renewed

Videogame software remains free from the advanced communications services (ACS) requirements of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, under a CVAA waiver posted Wednesday by the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and included in Thursday's Daily Digest. The waiver, requested in May by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) in docket 10-213, extends a class waiver granted in 2012 that was to expire in October; it now will run through 2016. Section 716 of CVAA requires ACS providers to make their products usable and accessible to people with disabilities. ESA argued in its petition that while videogame software is capable of accessing ACS, it's designed for something else -- game play -- the bureau said in the waiver order. Pointing to materials for such games as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Diablo III, the bureau said these show "that video game software marketing currently emphasizes game playing, not ACS." ESA's waiver request was shorter than the eight-year waiver it sought in 2012 and this time didn't cover game consoles and peripherals. "The increased availability of accessible console and platform-level ACS features is likely to help game developers and publishers address their ACS compliance obligations if such additional time is granted to achieve such compliance," the bureau said in the waiver order.