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New Media Options Raise New Closed Captioning Concerns
Since January 1, 2006, all new English language TV programs shown in the United States have been required to include closed captioning. And with a similar standard set to be applied to Spanish language programs starting in 2010, it would seem that the approximately 28 million Americans who are deaf and hard of hearing have at last achieved what they’ve been fighting for: the same level of access to the media as the rest of the country. But some advocates for the community are now arguing that the concept of equal access still has a long way to go—and that the situation may even be getting worse.
When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) first published its transition schedule in 1997 outlining when TV stations needed to complete the transition to providing closed captioning for 100 percent of their new programming, few realized the significance that other technologies would play in offering new media options to consumers. Today, even as the world of television now offers more closed captioned choices than ever before, the lack of captioning for streaming video on the Internet or for programs displayed on portable media devices seems to be creating even more of a divide.
New ways of accessing TV programming are also raising concerns. At the beginning of May, the Department of Utility Control for the state of Connecticut released a draft decision that concludes that AT&T, which wants to offer IP-based television services over its phone lines, doesn’t have to be subjected to the same regulations as competing cable companies. This means the company will not be required to comply with the FCC’s mandate for providing closed captioning for its programming. While AT&T may voluntarily choose to offer closed captioning, the draft decision clearly indicates a lack on consensus on how existing regulations can or should be applied to new technologies.
Concerned that the deaf and hard of hearing are being left behind in this era of new media options, advocacy groups such as the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) have called on Congress to enact legislation mandating access for disabled people to Internet-based products and services. After an appearance on Capitol Hill last November at a hearing before the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, the NAD released a press release in which Kelby Brick, NAD director of law and advocacy, commented, “People with disabilities use communications technologies every day that were not even in existence at the time our nation’s communications laws were last amended. The 1996 Telecommunications Act did not contemplate instant messaging, email, video relay, peer-to-peer video or such handheld devices as the Firefly and the Tictalk.”
However, even though access to newer media is still limited for people with disabilities, some organizations are finding innovative ways to use these technologies to their advantage. For example, the NAD, through its Captioned Media Program (CMP), provides free access to over 4,000 open-captioned programs, several hundred of which are available online as streaming videos. Financed by the U.S. Department of Education, the CMP offers a positive example of how people are finding new ways to leverage increasingly pervasive technologies such as the Internet for the deaf and hard of hearing community.