FCC Simplifies Closed Captioning Certification Requirements: What Changed and What Didn't

For more than a decade, the FCC has continued to refine how responsibility for closed captioning is shared between the video programmers who create content and the video programming distributors (VPDs) that deliver it to viewers. Aberdeen has been following those changes along the way.

In 2014, the FCC established new standards focused on the quality of closed captions. In 2016, the Commission expanded the responsibilities of video programmers and introduced a shared responsibility model between programmers and distributors. Now, ten years later, the FCC is revisiting part of that framework.

On August 26, 2026, the FCC released Report and Order FCC 26-57, eliminating several registration and certification requirements that the Commission determined were unnecessarily duplicative.

The important distinction is that the FCC is simplifying some of the paperwork surrounding closed captioning compliance, not eliminating the underlying obligation to provide compliant closed captions.

How We Got Here

The latest changes make more sense in the context of how the FCC's closed captioning rules have evolved. Over the past decade, the Commission has established caption quality standards, defined how responsibility is shared between programmers and distributors, and continued to refine how that compliance is documented.

That brings us to 2026. Rather than reversing the captioning standards and shared responsibilities developed over the previous decade, FCC 26-57 revisits some of the administrative requirements built around them.

There is an important bit of history here. In 2016, the FCC adopted a system that would eventually require video programmers to register directly with the Commission and submit annual certifications regarding their compliance with the closed captioning rules. Aberdeen covered those changes at the time in FCC Shared Responsibilities: Caption Quality & Certification.

That direct FCC filing system, however, never became operational as originally envisioned. In FCC 26-57, the Commission notes that video programmers currently do not make those filings because the FCC's website is not yet ready to accept them.

Meanwhile, the certification process that stations and other video programming distributors have actually been working under continued to require VPDs to use "best efforts" to obtain caption quality certifications from their programming suppliers.

FCC 26-57 addresses both pieces of that history.

What Is the FCC Changing?

FCC 26-57 takes another look at the registration and certification structure adopted in 2016 and concludes that, in certain situations, requiring individual programmers and the networks carrying their programming to make separate FCC filings would create unnecessary duplication.

Under the amended rules, video programmers providing programming exclusively to a qualifying nonbroadcast network may not need to separately register and certify with the FCC when the network has filed the appropriate registration and certification covering its linear programming lineup. Similar relief applies to programmers providing content exclusively to qualifying public, educational, and governmental (PEG) access channels.

The distinction is important because this is not a transition from an existing system where every producer has been filing certifications directly with the FCC. Although that direct filing requirement was adopted in 2016, the Commission never implemented the system necessary to accept those filings.

Instead, FCC 26-57 is simplifying that planned framework before it fully takes effect. If the appropriate network or PEG administrator can certify the programming lineup, the FCC no longer sees a need for qualifying individual programmers to duplicate that filing.

If the network or channel administrator does not make the required filing, however, individual programmers can still retain their registration and certification obligations.

What About PEG Programming?

PEG programming has been part of this discussion for even longer. In 2015, we covered an FCC roundtable specifically addressing Closed Captioning and PEG Programming, including the complicated relationship between FCC captioning exemptions and other accessibility responsibilities.

FCC 26-57 now provides registration and certification relief for certain PEG programmers. If the administrator of an exempt PEG channel registers with the FCC and certifies the channel's exemption, individual programmers providing content exclusively to that channel will not also have to register and certify the same exemption.

The rule addresses non-exempt PEG channels as well. If the channel administrator certifies that all programming carried on the channel is either compliant with the captioning rules or exempt, individual programmers can similarly be relieved of the duplicative filing requirement.

The distinction here is important: the FCC has not created a blanket closed captioning exemption for PEG programming. The change concerns who must file the registration and certification, not whether otherwise non-exempt programming must be captioned.

What Is Not Changing?

This may be the most important part of the new Order. The FCC states directly that the amendments do not alter a video programmer's substantive closed captioning obligations. Programming that was exempt remains exempt, while programming that is not exempt must still be captioned.

The caption quality standards Aberdeen has been writing about since 2014 also remain in place: accuracy, synchronization, completeness, and placement. FCC 26-57 does not undo those requirements.

In fact, the Commission specifically concluded that the changes should not affect caption quality because programmers of non-exempt content are being relieved of certain filing requirements, not the underlying obligation to provide captions that comply with FCC quality standards.

The "Best Efforts" Requirement Is Also Going Away

There is another change that may be more immediately recognizable to television stations and other VPDs.

When the FCC's caption quality standards were being implemented in 2015, stations and other distributors were required to use "best efforts" to obtain captioning compliance certifications from the video programmers whose content they carried. We covered that requirement at the time in FCC Pushes Back the Date on New Captioning Quality Standards.

That is the certification process many broadcasters and producers will recognize from their actual workflows: the programmer provides its certification, while the station or other VPD makes the required effort to obtain it.

FCC 26-57 removes that "best efforts" obligation once the amended rules become effective.

What it does not change is the underlying division of captioning responsibility. Video programmers remain responsible for captioning matters within their control, and VPDs remain responsible for matters within theirs.

Shared Responsibility Is Still Shared Responsibility

This is where the new Order fits into the larger history of FCC captioning regulation. FCC 26-57 does not reverse the shared responsibility framework established in 2016.

Video programmers remain responsible for captioning matters within their control, while VPDs remain responsible for matters within theirs. That distinction also remains important when a captioning problem occurs.

We previously covered how those responsibilities work through the FCC's complaint process in FCC Updates the Compliance Ladder for Closed Captioning Complaints.

The 2026 Order is better understood as a simplification of the administrative system built around those responsibilities, rather than a reversal of the responsibilities themselves.

What Does This Mean for Video Producers?

For most producers, the practical requirement to deliver properly captioned programming does not disappear. If programming is subject to the FCC's closed captioning rules, it still must be captioned, and those captions still must comply with the applicable quality standards. FCC 26-57 expressly says that the rule changes do not alter a video programmer's substantive captioning obligations.

What is changing is the administrative structure surrounding those obligations. The FCC is eliminating the VPD "best efforts" requirement to collect programmer certifications and simplifying the direct registration and certification system adopted in 2016 before that system was fully implemented.

Networks and stations may also continue to impose their own captioning requirements through technical specifications, contracts, delivery procedures, or other business arrangements. The FCC specifically notes that nonbroadcast networks often use contractual provisions or other mechanisms to hold their program suppliers accountable for captioning compliance, and FCC 26-57 is not intended to interfere with those arrangements.

In practical terms, a producer may have less FCC certification paperwork surrounding the delivery, but the responsibility to deliver properly captioned programming remains.

Less Paperwork, Not Less Accessibility

That is still the simplest way to summarize FCC 26-57, but the history adds an important layer.

In 2014 and 2015, the FCC established and implemented caption quality standards. In 2016, the Commission formalized shared responsibilities between programmers and distributors and adopted a future system for programmers to register and certify directly with the FCC. That direct filing system never fully became operational.

Now, ten years later, the FCC is simplifying that planned system before it does, while also eliminating the existing "best efforts" requirement that has required VPDs to obtain certifications from their programming suppliers.

Chairman Brendan Carr described the action as eliminating "unnecessarily duplicative requirements" and said the Commission concluded that the changes would have no negative impact on captioning availability or quality.

What the Commission is not doing is backing away from its caption quality standards or removing the requirement to caption non-exempt programming.

For broadcasters and video programmers, the takeaway is straightforward: some of the compliance paperwork is changing. The responsibility to provide quality, compliant closed captions is not.

When Do the Changes Take Effect?

Not all portions of FCC 26-57 take effect immediately. Certain amendments become effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. The new provisions governing registration and certification relief under sections 79.1(i)(4) and 79.1(m)(6), however, are subject to review under the Paperwork Reduction Act and will not become effective until that process is complete and the FCC announces an effective date.

Aberdeen will continue to follow the implementation of these changes and provide updates as additional guidance and effective dates become available.