21ST CENTURY COMMUNICATIONS AND VIDEO ACCESSIBILITY ACT

HOUSE RELEASES 21ST CENTURY COMMUNICATIONS AND VIDEO ACCESSIBILITY ACT FOR
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

On December 21, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives released a draft
bill, the long-awaited "Twenty-first Century Communications and Video
Accessibility Act." This proposal is a dramatic and comprehensive step
forward for consumers with disabilities. It proposes to amend the
Communications Act - the main statute that impacts the telephone and video
programming industries - to add new consumer protections that will ensure
people with disabilities do not get left out or left behind as telephones
and television programming increasingly rely on digital and Internet
Protocol (IP) technologies. The proposals will allow greater numbers of
people with disabilities to become independent and productive members of
society, as well as to enjoy all the new electronic gadgets and devices that
everyone else takes for granted.

To see the draft bill (PDF only) please go to
http://markey.house.gov/docs/telecomm/draft_of_telecom_legislation.pdf.

To see a summary of the bill (Word) please go to
http://markey.house.gov/docs/telecomm/summary_of_telecom_legislation.doc.

Or go to http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3236&Itemid=46 
and CLICK on the documents.

IMMEDIATE ACTION STEPS!!! To help pass these simple communication fixes
that will bring communications into the 21st century for people with
disabilities, please send letters as soon as you can to the following House
members who are the leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee
(the committee that is assigned this bill). Make sure to ask them for their
sponsorship of the legislation:

Rep. John Dingell, (D-MI), Chairman, House Energy and Commerce Committee,
Room 2328 Rayburn House Building, Washington, DC 20515.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), Chairman, House Subcommittee on Telecommunications
and the Internet, Room 2125 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC
20515.

Ranking Minority Members:

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), Room 2109 Rayburn House Building, Washington, DC
20515.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Room 2322A Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, DC 20515.

Also send letters to your own representatives if they are members of the
House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, whichwill review
the bill first (This subcommittee is within the full House Committee.) You
can see list of subcommittee members and get their addresses at
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Subcommittees/telint.shtml. Snail mail is
preferred.

Please send copies of your letters to: COAT, c/o of AAPD, 1629 K Street NW,
Suite 503, Washington, DC 20006, attn: J. Simpson.

Your letter could help make sure that there really is 21st century
electronic communication for people with disabilities!

Additional Action Steps will follow! Please stay alert!

THANKS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

The COAT Steering Committee

Title II - Video Programming

Closed-Captioning Decoder and Video Description Capability. Sec. 201 --
This section expands the scope of devices that must display closed captions
under the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 from the present
requirement of television sets with screens that are 13 inches or larger, to
all video devices that receive or display video programming transmitted
simultaneously with sound, including those that can receive or display
programming carried over the Internet. The section also requires these
devices to be able to transmit and deliver video descriptions. Video
description is the provision of verbal descriptions of the on-screen visual
elements of a show provided during natural pauses in dialogue.

Video Description and Closed Captioning. Sec. 202. - This section
reinstates the FCC's modest regulations on video description. Those rules,
originally promulgated in 2001, were struck down by a U.S. Court of Appeals
for lack of FCC authority. This section also authorizes the FCC to
promulgate additional rules to (1) ensure that video description services
can be transmitted and provided over digital TV technologies, (2) ensure
that digital TV equipment can make available the delivery and use of video
description, (3) require non-visual access to on-screen emergency warnings
and similar televised information and (4) increase the amount of video
description required. Finally, this section adds a definition for video
programming to include programming distributed over the Internet to make
clear that the existing closed captioning obligations (and future video
description obligations) contained in Section 713 apply to video programming
that is distributed or re-distributed over the Internet. This section is
intended to ensure the continued accessibility of video programming to
Americans with disabilities, as this programming migrates to the Internet.

User Interfaces. Sec. 203.- This section requires devices used to receive
or display video programming, including devices used to receive and display
Internet-based video programming, to be accessible by people with
disabilities so that such individuals are able to access all functions of
such devices (such as turning these devices on and off, controlling volume
and select programming). The section contains requirements for (1) audio
output where on-screen text menus are used to control video programming
functions, and (2) a conspicuous means of accessing closed captioning and
video description, including a button on remote controls and first level
access to these accessibility features when made available through on-screen
menus.

Access Video Programming Guides and Menus. Sec. 204 - This section
requires multichannel video programming distributors to make their
navigational programming guides accessible to people who cannot read the
visual display, so that these individuals can make program selections.

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