Congressman is House author of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and former chairman of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, released a statement following the issuance by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of a Report and Order adopting closed captioning requirements for the owners, providers, and distributors of video programming delivered using Internet protocol. The FCC action implements sections of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA) that mandate captioning of IP-delivered video programming. The CVAA was signed into law by President Obama on October 8, 2010.
“The FCC’s rule appropriately recognizes that uncaptioned, archival online programming must be captioned to ensure greater access to this programming for Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing, consistent with the CVAA. The rule’s deadlines for captioning this programming should provide adequate time for compliance, and it my hope that the captioning could be completed even sooner than required.
“Americans increasingly are accessing news, entertainment and other types of information through online video segments excerpted from full-length televised programming. I believe that such segments should not be considered ‘video clips’ and therefore exempt from IP-captioning requirements. Accordingly, I strongly encourage the Commission to closely monitor whether the exclusion of these segments from the captioning mandate is curtailing access to news and other information by Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing, and if it is, reconsider today’s rule to remedy this problem.”
Last week, Rep. Markey and Senator Mark Pryor sent a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioners Robert McDowell and Mignon Clyburn outlining the Congressional view of the provision of the CVAA that requires captioning of video programming delivered using IP even if the original full-length programming is shown on the Internet in segments and even if not all of the segments are posted online.
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