Captioning Regulations

Captioning transforms the audio part of a television show into text on the screen, giving deaf and hard-of-hearing people access to news, entertainment, and information. Congress requires closed captioning for video programming distributors (VPDs), including cable operators, broadcasters, satellite distributors, and other multi-channel video programming distributors.

FCC closed captioning rules

We at Lingopot adhere to FCC’s regulations for TV closed captioning guarantee that deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers have complete access to programs, address captioning quality, and provide video programming distributors and programmer’s direction.
The regulations apply to all captioned television programs.

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Accuracy

Captions must be accurate in matching the dialogue’s spoken words and conveying background noises and other sounds to the most significant degree feasible.

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Synchronization

Captions must be synchronized to the maximum degree feasible with their corresponding spoken words and sounds, and they must be shown on the screen at a rate that viewers can read.
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Complete

Captions must be complete from the beginning to the program’s conclusion to the most significant degree feasible
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Correctly placed

Captions should not obstruct other essential visual information on the screen, overlap, or run over the border of the video screen when adequately positioned.

The regulations differentiate between pre-recorded, live, and near-live content and clarify how the requirements apply to each, acknowledging the increased challenges of captioning live and near-live programs.

(The captioning of home movies, DVDs, and video games is not regulated by the FCC.)

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Exempt programming

Self-implementing and economically onerous exemptions from the closed captioning requirements are now available:

Public service announcements that are less than 10 minutes long and are not paid for with federal funds, programming broadcast between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., and mainly textual content are all self-implementing exemptions.
There is also an exception for non-news programming created locally that has no repeat value.
Visit our website at www.lingopot.com for a complete list of self-implementing exemptions.