President To Sign Video Accessibility Bill

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The President is scheduled to sign the 21st
Century Communications & Video Accessibility Bill at a White House ceremony
Friday (Oct. 8), according to Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), one of the driving
forces behind the bill.

The legislation updates the disability access
provisions of communications law to ensure access to new digital media and
reinstates the FCC's video description rules, which were thrown out by the
courts.

Among the updates are making smart phones and other portable devices
accessible and eventually requiring closed captioning of online video content.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.