The FCC has voted to seek comment on rules implementing the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act.
It had been scheduled to vote on the proposed rulemaking at its March 4 meeting Thursday, but pulled it from the agenda late Wednesday saying it had already been voted. That move came the same day the bill's backer Ed Markey (D-Mass.) received an award from the American Council of the Blind for spearheading its passage.
The bill, which was voted into law last fall (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/457794-Congress_Passes_Digital_Disability_Access_Bill.php), just missing the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, equires the captioning of any online video that is closed captioned on TV, and asks the FCC to study captioning of Web-original video. It also requires smart phones and other mobile devices to be accessible to the disabled, if that is achievable, and restores the FCC's video description rules thrown out by the courts in 2002.
