Regulatory

FCC Reminds Video Program Distributors about Accessible Emergency Info

September 2014 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Public Notice to remind video programming distributors of their obligation to make emergency information accessible to persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or visually impaired in accordance with section 79.2 of the FCC’s [47 C.F.R.] regulations. The notice applies to “broadcasters, cable operators, satellite television services, and any other distributor of video programming” as specified by the code of federal regulations.

All Wireless Providers Required to Support Text-to-911

August 2014 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a press release August 8, 2014 establishing compliance deadlines for text-to-911 services. The adopted rules complement previous voluntary commitments made by the top four wireless carriers to support text-to-911 by May 2014. In addition to AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-mobile, certain IP-based text applications and the remaining wireless carriers are expected to support text-to-911 by the end of the year.

Anvato Complies With FCC Accessibility Requirements almost 2 Years Early

August 2014 – Anvato, provider of the leading video platform and multi-device player TV Everywhere, announced that their turnkey video software has reached full compliance with the FCC’s latest closed-captioning mandate. The FCC extended IP closed-captioning to “straight-lift” video clips, montages, and video clips of programming shown live and near-live on television in July. According to Anvato, they have met these requirements, as well as captioning compliance for back-catalog content less than a month after the ruling.

Effective Date and Compliance Deadlines for IP Closed Captioning of Video Clips

August 2014 – The Federal Communications Commission released a public notice informing citizens of an adopted order requiring closed captioning of internet video clips [MB Docket No. 11-154]. According to the Federal Register summary, published August 5, 2014, the adopted rules concerning video clips delivered using Internet protocol will be effective on September 4, 2014. Compliance dates are as follow:

Justice Dept. Announces Accessibility Agreement with Florida Courts

July 2014 – The U.S. Justice Department has announced a settlement with Florida’s Orange County Clerk of Courts to resolve violations regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The Orange County Clerk of Courts allegedly failed to provide accessible court documents to a blind attorney, despite repeated requests. The attorney’s appeal for electronic documents, accessible by screen reader technology, was not provided in an accessible format for over four months.

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The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies is sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under grant number 90RE5007-01-00. The opinions contained in this website are those of the Wireless RERC and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or NIDILRR.