21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act

21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act
U.S. Government · Public domain · source
Name	21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act
Enacted by	United States Congress
Enacted	2010
Public law	Public Law 111-260
Signed by	Barack Obama
Effective	2010
Citations	124 Stat. 2751

Contents

21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act is a United States statute enacted in 2010 to update accessibility obligations for modern telecommunications and video programming. The Act was developed amid debates involving Federal Communications Commission, American Foundation for the Blind, National Association of the Deaf, National Federation of the Blind, and industry stakeholders including AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Comcast Corporation. It aimed to extend protections first articulated in earlier federal laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Background and legislative history

The Act emerged from legislative efforts led by members of United States Congress such as Senator Tom Harkin, Representative Steny Hoyer, Senator John Kerry, and Representative Fred Upton and was shaped through committee work in the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Advocacy from organizations like American Council of the Blind, Hearing Loss Association of America, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. informed negotiations with carriers such as Sprint Corporation, T-Mobile US, and Cox Communications. Technical input arrived from standards bodies including Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Internet Engineering Task Force, and World Wide Web Consortium as Congress reconciled provisions to accommodate innovations tied to platforms run by Apple Inc., Google LLC, Microsoft Corporation, Netflix, Inc., and YouTube.

The Act mandated accessible features across devices and services supplied by companies like Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Sony Corporation, and Motorola Mobility. It required manufacturers and service providers including Roku, Inc. and TiVo Corporation to ensure accessible user interfaces, interoperability with adaptive devices produced by Freedom Scientific and HumanWare, and compatibility with captioning systems used by broadcasters such as National Broadcasting Company and Columbia Broadcasting System. The law required video programming distributors such as DirecTV, Dish Network Corporation, and Time Warner Cable to provide closed captioning, and obliged online video platforms including Amazon (company), Hulu, and Vimeo to address captioning and described video concerns. It also imposed requirements on emergency information dissemination used by Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and state-level entities like the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.

Regulatory authority for implementing rules rested with the Federal Communications Commission coordinated with input from the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Education on education-related accessibility. Industry compliance was monitored through rulemaking dockets and adjudication involving stakeholders such as Consumer Electronics Association and National Cable and Telecommunications Association. Enforcement actions and settlement discussions have included parties like Sprint Nextel Corporation and Verizon Wireless and sometimes led to consent decrees negotiated with civil rights groups such as Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and American Civil Liberties Union.

The Act influenced product design at firms including Intel Corporation, Qualcomm, NVIDIA Corporation, and Broadcom Inc. and changed practices at media companies such as The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Entertainment, NBCUniversal, and CBS Corporation. Captioning and audio description became more prominent across services offered by PBS', HBO, Showtime Networks, and streaming platforms like Disney+ and Peacock (streaming service). Accessibility technology vendors including CaptioningWorks and Verbit expanded offerings, while universities such as Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology adjusted online course materials to comply. The Act affected international firms operating in U.S. markets like Huawei Technologies, Ericsson, and Nokia.

Litigation and administrative petitions involved entities such as National Association of the Deaf and commercial parties like Netflix, Inc. and Amazon (company). Courts including the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and occasionally the United States Supreme Court were referenced in disputes over scope, preemption, and technical mandates. Subsequent amendments and rulemakings adjusted timelines and technical specifications after dialogues with the Federal Communications Commission, Office of Management and Budget, and Congressional offices of lawmakers like Senator Mark Kirk and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

Technical standards referenced in implementation included specifications from the World Wide Web Consortium such as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, protocols from the Internet Engineering Task Force like Real-time Transport Protocol, and captioning formats influenced by industry groups including Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and Alliance for Open Media. Accessibility features emphasized by regulators and companies covered closed captioning, audio description, user interface navigation for devices like Xbox (console), PlayStation (console), and smart TVs from Vizio, text alternatives for media assets used by platforms including WordPress and Drupal (software), and interoperability with assistive technologies produced by AbleNet, Logitech International, and Dolphin Computer Access.

Category:United States federal disability legislation