On the heels of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 was enacted fourteen years ago. This Act has inserted decoders into virtually every home in the country with TV sets 13" or larger. In addition, Section 713 of the Telecommunication Act of 1996 currently requires that 75% of all new programming be captioned, which will go up to 100% of all new programming in 2006.

Closed captioning is critical to deaf and hard of hearing individuals, both for personal safety, education, and with respect to quality of life. Individuals who rely on closed captioning in order to have access to video programming continue to experience numerous problems with the captioning quality. This has resulted in a lack of access to video programming that is contrary to the mandates of the Telecommunications Act. The FCC's adoption of the captioning rules was the first step towards increasing the availability of captioned programming. However, it has become clear that additional enforcement mechanisms are required in order to ensure full implementation of the rules and to increase accountability for noncompliance with the rules. In addition, measures are needed to ensure that the occurrence of technical problems is minimized and to ensure that technical problems that do occur are remedied efficiently and expeditiously. The FCC also must adopt quality of service standards in order to ensure that video programming is fully accessible to all viewers who rely on captioning.

"When the FCC implemented the original captioning regulations, the purpose was to get captions on the TV screen. We now ask that the FCC expand on its commitment to monitor and enforce acceptable quality TV captioning", says Claude Stout, Executive Director of TDI. Stout adds, "We also ask that the FCC ensure that timely communication and resolution on captioning issues occur by quickly working in concert with consumers, captioning providers, and program producers and distributors."

"Deviation of accuracy and synchronization between the spoken word and captions presented on the screen is especially noticeable to people who once enjoyed sound", comments Lois Maroney, President of the Association of Late-Deafened Adults, Inc. "It is frustrating to misinterpret important parts of television programs because captions are lacking in quality."

"A TV program where the captioning is too riddled with errors to understand the action, or the captions are cut off in the final minutes so you never know what the ending was, shouldn't be considered acceptable for meeting the captioning requirements," said Cheryl Heppner, Vice Chair of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network. She adds, "We have seen programs that are virtually unreadable. Other programs have captioning dropped several minutes before the end of the show, leaving us hanging high and dry, wondering what happened at the end."

"Captioning must be treated with the same respect as sound", emphasized Nancy Bloch, CEO of National Association of the Deaf. She adds, "A viewer who can hear would never accept spoken words that are regularly unintelligible or missing and sound that suddenly stops. Nor would their attempts to call and inform the station of a problem be treated as having no sense of urgency."

"As we approach the 100% benchmark, captioning quality issues are becoming more apparent", says Brenda Battat, Senior Director of Policy and Development at Self Help for Hard of Hearing People. Ms. Battat also points out, "Some programs have been listed as being captioned in the newspaper, but this often turns out not to be the case. The petition aims to address those issues and more."

On July 23, 2004, TDI filed a Petition for Rulemaking. We strongly encourage everyone who uses captioning when watching television to file comments in support of this petition with the FCC and ask them to improve captioning quality for all. FCC's new ECFS Express makes it easier than ever to file comments.

As part of the organizations' ongoing efforts to promote more consumer involvement with the FCC and other government agencies, we encourage every television viewer who uses closed captioning to share their own personal experiences with the FCC.

Our petition is docket number RM-11065.