closed captioning waivers

In a decision released on Friday, the FCC staff denied the request of a church for an exemption from the rules requiring the closed captioning of most television programming, and may have helped to make clear an answer to those questions. This decision also helps to clear up a big question that has been hanging over such programs, for more than three years since the FCC reversed dozens of prior waivers granted by its staff to nonprofit groups claiming that the captioning would be economically burdensome on their operations (including the waiver that had been granted to this church).

In the wake of FCC’s rejection of hundreds of closed captioning waivers last year, many small television producers are now seeking new waivers for relief from the commission’s television closed captioning rules.

In a decision that may cause a fair amount of chaos for program producers, television stations, and cable systems, the FCC last Thursday released an Order overturning 298 previously granted closed captioning waivers.