Public Input Deadlines Announced - Accessibility of User Interfaces

December 2013 —The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) in the Matter of Accessibility of User Interfaces, and Video Programming Guides and Menus; Accessible Emergency Information, and Apparatus Requirements for Emergency Information and Video Description: Implementation of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 [MB Docket No. 12-108, 12-107]. The FNPRM addresses rules previously adopted to implement Sections 204 and 205 of the CVAA, enabling people with visual or auditory disabilities to easily access accessibility features for video programming.In the FNPRM, the FCC seeks comment on whether the term “usable” should be defined in relation to implementing Section 204 and whether the phrase “accessibility features” is meant to include closed captioning user display settings and “require covered entities to ensure that consumers are able to locate and control such settings.”  Additional comments are sought regardingwhether rules should be adopted to require secondary audio streams, which may carry accessible public safety information, to be activated by a “mechanism reasonably comparable to a button, key or icon” and whether additional rues are needed to require manufacturers to provide information, documentation and training for consumers regarding accessibility features. Comments are due on or before February 18, 2014; reply comments are due on or before March 20, 2014.