5-0 Vote Expected for Video Closed Caption Display Settings Item
A draft order requiring that device-makers and MVPDs make closed-caption display settings easily accessible is expected to receive unanimous approval during FCC commissioners’ open meeting Thursday, agency officials told us. The final item is expected to change language from the draft version, resulting in the rules no longer applying to preinstalled apps. The order is based in part on a consensus proposal from NCTA and several consumer groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing. “We are in a very different place in terms of the consumer industry relationships now than we were decades ago," said Karen Peltz Strauss, a former FCC Consumer Bureau deputy chief who now represents the consumer groups in the proceeding. “There's a lot more communication, a lot more collaboration, coordination. We've seen a real seismic shift in being able to work with industry to get the access we need.”
The order would require MVPDs and manufacturers of covered devices -- most TVs and set-top boxes that receive video and sound -- to make their caption display settings “readily accessible.” The FCC has standards requiring that devices allow captions to be customized by size, color and other characteristics, but many consumers report difficulty finding and using them, the draft order said. That is “a technical barrier that prevents the use and enjoyment of captioning,” the FCC said. The agency sought comment on caption display settings in 2016 but didn’t act on them. Those comments drew heavy industry pushback. More recent efforts at refreshing the record received much less opposition.
The order doesn’t require that entities make caption display settings accessible in specific ways but evaluates accessibility using factors that consumer groups such as TDIforAccess and the National Association for the Deaf supplied. They include proximity, discoverability and previewability: display settings for captions should be grouped together in menus, easy to find, and include the capability to preview what captions will look like under different settings. The rules would also require manufacturers of navigation devices to provide the application programming interface for the device’s caption display settings so that app-makers have the option of enabling their apps to use the settings of the host device. Entities would have two years after Federal Register publication to come into compliance.
The draft item applies the readily accessible requirements to preinstalled apps, but NCTA called on the agency to change that language after it was released. The joint proposal omits preinstalled apps “because their inclusion would pose substantially more practical and technical difficulties,” NCTA said in an ex parte filing last week. MVPDs providing set-top boxes with preinstalled apps shouldn’t be held responsible for “policing the internal decisions and processes” of app developers, some of whom may be competitors, NCTA said. The consumer groups said Friday they were working on a consensus proposal with NCTA under which MVPDs wouldn’t be held responsible for preinstalled apps. However, MVPDs would need to notify app-makers that they would be able to use the MVPD set-top device caption settings. In theory, app-makers will find using the device settings easier than creating caption display settings, leading to more consistency, a communications attorney told us. The final order isn’t expected to require preinstalled apps to be readily accessible.
Strauss said that consumer groups are pleased with the draft item. “We worked very closely with the industry on the joint proposal, and were extremely appreciative of their efforts to communicate with us and work with us,” she said. “We think that the FCC did an excellent job.” NCTA didn't comment.