Public Policy

FCC REGULATIONS

Over the decades since NCI created and launched the world’s first closed captioning service, our mission of delivering and developing effective media access solutions has been supported by public policy and legislation. Two important developments in this century include the adoption of closed caption quality standards by the FCC (with input from the experts at NCI) and the signing of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010. Learn more about these important milestones here:

Going back further in history, some of the cornerstone policies that relate to captioning include:

 Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed to ensure equal opportunity for persons with disabilities. 

 Telecommunications Act (1996)

The U.S. Congress included television captioning requirements in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. 

 Rehabilitation Act – Section 508 Accessibility (1998)

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act as strengthened by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 requires that Federal agencies make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to people with disabilities, including employees and the general public. Visit the Section 508 web site www.section508.gov for more information.

Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 (1990)

NCI partnered with ITT Corporation to develop the first caption-decoding microchip. This chip could be built directly into new television sets in the factory, and it led to the passage of the Television Decoder Circuitry Act in 1990, mandating that all new television sets 13 inches or larger manufactured for sale in the U.S. contain caption-decoding technology. The Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990.