Earlier this month at NRB Proclaim 17, we hosted a brief talk with broadcasters regarding the most updated FCC laws pertaining to closed captioning. Although it was intended as a review of the laws that are already in place, it proved that many of the laws are still not known, or unclear, to many broadcasters.
The talk was hosted at the Learning Arena located in the vendor exhibit hall. The goal of the Learning Arena is to foster true interaction between exhibiting companies and convention participants to share and connect; highlighting relevant education and training.Read
It has been a year since the FCC published updated guidelines pertaining to the closed captioning requirements for online video clips. The notice specified that excerpts of full-length video programming captioned for broadcast in the U.S. and posted via the video programming provider or distributor's website or app would need to have captions present.
This only applied to single excerpts or single “straight-lift clips” from a full-length program.
In that announcement, the FCC also marked January 1, 2017, as the date that this law will extend to “montages,” or edits composed of multiple single excerpts (“straight-lift clips”). For example, an hour-long talk show that aired on television may appear as multiple segments on the web afterward – say, abridged interviews of each of the guests. Those clips, all stemming from the original full-length program, will now be expected to be captioned.
This also warrants a reminder that Internet closed captioning rules only apply if the video programming was shown on television in the U.S. with captions. Consumer-generated media (e.g., podcasts, home videos, or tutorials) shown on the Internet are not required to be captioned unless, of course, they were shown on TV with captions.
On Deck
Another deadline for Internet video clips will be stepping up to the plate in mid-2017. On July 1, 2017, video clips of live and near-live television programming (such as news or sporting events) will need to observe the following turnaround times for posting online with captions:
For clips of live programming, up to a 12-hour delay is permitted in posting a captioned clip after the programming has been shown on TV.
For clips of near-live programming, up to an 8-hour delay is permitted in posting a captioned clip after the programming has been shown on TV.
Currently, these are the only dates remaining on the FCC’s initial 2012 release of Internet video programming requirements. We wouldn’t bet on this being the last.
Repurposing a caption file for the web can be as simple as reformatting and a quick file conversion. After all, the videos have already been transcribed. It’s just a matter of matching your video player’s specifications for web play-out. To learn more about getting your Internet clips compliant, please contact us.
Amidst the growing number of accessibility discrimination lawsuits being filed against US movie theater chains, the Department of Justice announced yesterday that a Final Rule of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III will soon be published to enforce a nationally consistent standard. This rulemaking will provide specific requirements that cinemas must now meet to satisfy their equal access obligations to patrons with hearing and vision disabilities.
For screenings of features produced with closed captioning, movie theaters will now be required to provide caption display devices, such as Sony’s Access Glasses or Dolby’s CaptiView, to patrons who request them. The law will also require these theaters to provide assistive listening devices for any film produced with an audio description track, which contains a personal narration throughout the film.Read
Earlier this month, a team of Aberdeen caption editors took an educational field trip to the cinema! We were excited to check out Sony’s closed captioning glasses offered at Regal Cinemas. We decided to watch Hillsong’s “Let Hope Rise” documentary.
Our captioning team awaiting their showtime. Left to right: Nathan, Austin, Christina, and Brittany
We were surprised at how easy the process was—you simply need to check that accessibility devices are available for the movie you want to see. After you purchase your tickets, head over to guest services and request the glasses. Unfortunately, there were only 4 pairs of glasses available so we had to share.
The team sporting the Sony's Access Glasses. Left to right: Christina, Brittany, Nathan, and Flora
The glasses fit like heavy 3-D glasses. They are attached to a small receiver box where you can choose mid, near, or far distance and even change the brightness of the text. (You can also choose different languages if available and there is a headphone output if you desire described audio as well.)
Christina's POV through Sony's Access Glasses
The captions appear in bright green font and “move” on the screen depending on where you look or how you tilt your head (which took a little getting used to). This technology is wonderful for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and is likely going to encourage these viewers to choose Regal over other theaters. We had a blast evaluating the closed captions as we watched and were all pretty impressed with the movie theater glasses.
The field trip was even more rewarding for our team because of our longstanding relationship with the Hillsong team. The influx of content due to the June 1st Hillsong Channel launch has exposed more of our captioners to their productions and, along the way, created a few more super-fans of their work. They all jumped at the opportunity to check out their new theatrical release.
Here’s the trailer for the documentary...
A few weeks ago, we announced that the FCC published their final ruling on the responsibilities related to the provision and quality of closed captions on pre-recorded programming (FCC: Captioning Assurance Now a Shared Responsibility) effective September 22, 2016. To producers and owners of content, you are now directly responsible for providing and confirming the compliance of captioning work for non-exempt programming.
The Commission’s on-going attention to closed captioning quality, along with the NAD’s persistent class action lawsuits against universities, Netflix, Hulu, movie theaters, and airlines, are further proof that captioning work still remains inconsistent throughout the industry.
As a captioning company, we passionately support any efforts put in place to ensure that the industry can support and enforce these standards.Read
On February 18, 2016, the FCC implemented amendments to its rules on closed captioning of televised video programming to help clarify which bodies are responsible for the quality and the technical aspects of the delivery of closed captions on television. In a publication posted to the Federal Register last week, the FCC has assigned September 22, 2016, as the effective date for these new responsibilities.
In short, the FCC will now be holding the individual Video Programmers (producer, ministry, etc.) responsible for meeting the closed captioning quality standards in addition to holding TV stations responsible for broadcasting closed captions correctly. Video Programmers will also be required to register directly with the FCC in the future. More on that to come in the following weeks.
Follow the law or be ready to face the FCC directly.Read
Today, the Federal Communications Commission has published its final ruling on the responsibilities related to the provision and quality of closed captions on television programming. The FCC will now be moving to a shared responsibility model that, while still imposing primary responsibility on video program distributors (VPDs), will now shift some of that responsibility directly to the video programmers (VPs) that produce the content. Each entity will be responsible for closed captioning issues that are primarily within its control.Read
Effective August 1, 2016, a new law authored by Minnesota politician Brian Daniels now requires all televisions in common areas at medical facilities in Minnesota to turn on the closed captioning feature.
The bill, which was signed into law on May 22 of this year, was an effort by Mr. Daniels to address a problem brought to his attention by the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf. According to Daniels, he can recall the exact story that triggered his motivation to move forward in pursuing this matter. He had heard of a family sitting in a hospital waiting room one morning struggling to make sense of the breaking news of a horrific tragedy unfolding in New York. That was the morning of September 11, 2001.
It was not a difficult task for the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf to gain his attention on this matter. Back in 1996, Daniels and his family relocated to the city of Faribault so his son, Jeremiah, who is severely hard of hearing, could attend the MSAD. He highlighted his joy in serving the deaf community of Minnesota, saying, “I’m just so proud of it because it affects my family and so many people we know in the community.”
In addition to waiting rooms in hospitals, other medical facilities include surgical centers, birth centers, and certain group homes. Group Homes affected are those that provide housing, meals, and services to five or more people who are developmentally or physically disabled, chemically dependent, or mentally ill. However, it does not apply to medical clinics, nursing homes, or assisted living facilities.
This was one of several new laws to go into effect on August 1st and another promising example of the increasing efforts of lawmakers to help gain accessibility for all.
The quality of our client’s programs is at the forefront of everything we do at Aberdeen. Adding CinnaFilm’s Tachyon product to our digital encoding workflows means higher-quality frame-rate conversions for those requiring international delivery or a 24P adaptation for broadcast. Currently, Aberdeen encodes and delivers thousands of standards-converted programs per month to over 400 broadcast outlets all over the world. This latest technology advancement allows Aberdeen to further increase the quality of the programs we distribute.
Before we move on, we should probably explain what exactly is meant by a standards conversion. The description is that the word standard can be more easily understood as frame rate. This frame rate conversion is the process of taking a video filmed at one frame rate, say 30 frames per second, and converting it to 25 or 24 frames per second.
Why would you want to do a frame rate conversion? Well, IMHO, no one really wants to do this sort of alteration as it takes away detail and cadence from the intended “look.” However, when delivering content to other countries for television broadcast, certain standards are in place. Standard, in this case, refers to the geographically imposed frame rate dictated by a country's power system and the conversion is the change of that frame rate to the new time base.
Before we made the clear decision to go with Tachyon, we had to explore what features/technology it utilizes to produce a higher quality conversion over the other leading software converters. Tachyon has the ability to synthesize new frames using motion compensation, along with special and temporal noise reduction, cadence error correction, and interlace re-scaling make up the majority of where the magic happens. The results of using Tachyon were an obvious increase in motion smoothness, image sharpness, and noise reduction in the Tachyon converted video over the other, more elementary, systems of software that typically use a method of cadenced frame blending.
Tachyon’s patented GPU-based algorithms are the broadcast industry’s highest-quality frame rate conversion software. When we first saw the side-by-side tests we could not wait to adopt and roll out such a quality-enhancing product for our clients and stations. We are extremely excited to implement this addition to our client’s workflows.
Today, in a partnership with Trinity Broadcasting Network, Hillsong Church has launched The Hillsong Channel. The 24-hour channel will feature Hillsong Church’s globally recognized worship performances, conferences, documentaries, children’s programming, talk shows, and messages from Christian leaders – including Hillsong Senior Pastor Brian Houston and his wife Bobbi Houston. Read
