In Broadcast - August 2017 - 78

78

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 7 - Issue 8 | August 2017

InUSA

Final U.S. Captioning
Mandate In Play
Contributing Editor Michael Grotticelli discusses the issues and some solutions
available to deal with the final phase of the FCC captioning rules...

O

n July 1, the U.S. government's
third and final closed captioning
mandate went into effect, stating
that all live or near-live programming
that included captioning on linear TV
must be captioned when delivered
via Internet Protocol. This pertains
to any content viewed on any type
of Internet-connected device. It also
means that now virtually every piece
of commercially available content -
whether on TV or the Internet - must
now include captioning information
or risk a Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) fine of up to
US$10,000 per incident (when a viewer
calls the FCC to complain).
The FCC refers to Live programming
as all types of sports, entertainment
and news telecasts and the mandate
includes show highlights by sports
programmers that appear immediately
after the conclusion of the live
broadcast. Near-live programming is
described as content that is broadcast
less than 24 hours after recording.
Examples of this type of programming
are late-night talk shows, which are
typically recorded six to 12 hours
before broadcast.
Rollout
The current captioning rules were
set in motion in 1990 by the passing
of the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA). Just as the ADA requires
handicap ramp access to buildings, it
mandates that certain "auxiliary aids"
must be made available to anyone with
a disability. In the case of the deaf and
hard of hearing, that means providing
closed captioning for videos.
The rollout of captions began
slowly, with January 1, 2002 set as
a first benchmark, requiring video
programmers to provide 3,600
hours per year of closed-captioned
programming. As part of their
commitment to public service,
broadcasters have shown a
willingness to comply. Thanks
to the subsequently passed
(in 2010) Twenty-First Century
Communications
and
Video

Accessibility Act, all full-length
captioned broadcast television
programmes delivered via IP, which
includes streaming services such
as Amazon, Apple and Hulu, must
carry those captions online as well.
FCC requirements for clips of fulllength programming soon followed.
In 2012, the FCC began requiring
all
IP-delivered
television
programmes
to
be
captioned,
regardless of whether they were fulllength episodes or clips. These were
phased in based on how the show was
created - either pre-recorded, live
or near-live. In 2014, the FCC added
short clips to programming that must
be captioned when delivered via IP.
This mandate came with some leeway
- clipped programmes only fell under
the requirement if delivered through
the programmer or content producers'
website or application. Third-party
platforms such as Hulu, YouTube and
iTunes were exempted. However, many
of these platforms have voluntarily
complied with the FCC mandate to
reach as many people as possible
and to give the deaf and hard-ofhearing access to their content. They
understand the value of public image.

Closed Captioning

often created to serve as teasers for
full programmes.
The rules that went into effect in
July of this year, however, are quite
different due to the nature of the
mediums that address.
The new FCC rules will allow clips
of live and near-live videos to be
distributed online without captions, as
long as each video is captioned within
the relevant mandated time frame. For
example, live programming must be
captioned within 12 hours of recording
and near-live within eight hours, unlike
direct clips or montages, which must
be captioned before distribution.

Live Challenge
The challenge for broadcasters is
that captioning live and near-live
programming is different from prerecorded captioning. Pre-recorded
Clips Included
offline captions often have the
The first clips mandate took effect benefit of clear transcripts, so their
in January 2016 and applied to direct captions can be created in sync with
lift clips of pre-recorded content. the audio allowing for a smooth
Sometimes called a "straight lift," viewing experience. Live and near-live
direct lifts are single excerpts of programmes don't have that luxury.
captioned programmes. However, this The real-time nature of live recordings
rule only applied to clips belonging means there will always be a slight
to one part of a programme, with delay in the captioning. Often, the
no other material. In January of this captions will correspond to words
year, montage clips were required to spoken earlier, rather than what is on
be delivered with captions. Composed the screen currently.
of multiple direct lifts, montages are
To address this, some programmers
Online captions may attempt to clip the captions
with video segments, but even this
doesn't completely fix the audiovideo delay problem. Other live
or near-live programmers have
experimented
with
automatic
speech
recognition
(ASR)
software to try to deal with the
time and manpower demands

of live captioning. However,
ASR software has proven to be
generally ineffective, sacrificing
quality and accuracy for speed. In
addition, the lack of quality caused
by some ASR software products
violates the FCC rules which
state that IP captions must be
of the same quality as television
broadcasts.

Promising Tech
Cloud-based processing of closed
captions is a much more promising
technology for all types of captioning,
which many larger broadcasters are
using to meet the mandate. At this
year's 2017 NAB Show in April, Digital
Nirvana was one of several vendors
that showed an automated clipping
service that allows broadcasters to
easily capture and share video clips,
complete with automated caption
synchronisation.
Digital Nirvana's new sports clipping
service
automatically
analyses
sports broadcasts in real-time and
generates ready-to-publish clips of
those highlights. The service can also
generate highlight images and GIFs for
customers' social media promotional
activities. It allows content creators
to easily gather and generate clips
from multiple sporting event airings
simultaneously; the service makes
broadcasters'
operations
more
efficient. Broadcasters can also quickly
pick and choose content to publish
sports clip montages. The service
reduces the time and cost to publish
content.
Another company, Telestream has
also announced that its entire suite of
captioning, workflow automation and
QC products are ready to meet the
latest FCC captioning rules.
Numerous
other
automated
captioning technologies are available
in both hardware and software
products that can batch process
hundreds of files at the same time, so
a bit of research is recommended to
select the right solution for your each
individual need.
http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/closed-captioning-television https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/closed-captioning-television
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