Closed captioning

Section 713 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 613) is amended— (1) by redesignating subsections (d) through (g) as subsections (e) through (h), respectively; (2) in subsection (c)— (A) in the heading, by striking Deadlines and inserting Requirements; (B) in paragraph (1), in the heading, by striking In general and inserting Deadlines for television programming captions; and (C) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3) and inserting the following: (2) Closed captioning regulations for online video programming and consumer generated media (A) Closed captioning regulations for new online video programming Not later than 12 months after the date of submission of the recommendations to the Commission under section 106(d)(1) of the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act of 2026, the Commission shall revise its regulations, taking into account those recommendations, to require all online video programming that is first made available on or after the effective date of the revised regulations to be fully accessible through the provision, receipt, and display of closed captioning, except as provided in subsection (e). (B) Schedule The regulations revised under subparagraph (A) shall include an appropriate schedule of deadlines, the earliest of which shall be not less than 2 years after the effective date of the revised regulations and the latest of which shall be not more than 6 years after that effective date, for the provision, receipt, and display of closed captioning on online video programming that is first made available on or after the effective date of the revised regulations. (C) Requirements for regulations The regulations revised under subparagraph (A)— (i) shall ensure that English-language and Spanish-language online video programming that is first made available on or after the effective date of the revised regulations is fully accessible through the provision, receipt, and display of closed captions in the original language of the audio track of the programming; (ii) shall define the categories of entities involved in the delivery of online video programming and apportion the responsibilities for the provision, quality, pass-through, and rendering of closed captions among such entities to ensure that closed caption data— (I) remains with the video programming to which the data is added; and (II) is distributed in common formats so that closed captions can be exhibited intact by all other entities that subsequently make the programming available to viewers; (iii) may not distinguish between full-length programming and video clips; and (iv) for the purposes of determining closed captioning obligations under this section and assessing compliance with regulations of the Commission governing the quality of closed captioning, including under section 79.1 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, shall treat any video programming that was live programming or near-live programming at the time that it was initially made available to viewers as prerecorded programming if it is again made available to viewers more than 48 hours after its initial availability. (D) Closed captioning regulations for older online video programming and on consumer generated media (i) In general Not later than 12 months after the date of submission of the recommendations to the Commission under section 106(d)(1) of the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act of 2026, the Commission shall prescribe regulations, taking into account those recommendations, to maximize, through the provision, receipt, and performance of closed captioning, the accessibility of— (I) online video programming that was first made available before the effective date of the revised regulations under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; and (II) consumer generated media. (ii) Requirement for consumer generated media In prescribing regulations for consumer generated media under clause (i)(II), the Commission shall require that an entity engaged in making available consumer generated media, whether or not the entity is also engaged in making available video that is not consumer generated media, provides— (I) authoring tools that permit users who post videos on the entity’s platform to add closed captions; (II) timely and effective notice, at or before the time of upload, to users who post videos on the entity’s platform that such authoring tools are available for videos; and (III) guidance on how to use such authoring tools. (E) Relation to previous requirements The regulations revised or prescribed under subparagraphs (A) and (D) may not impair or preclude the applicability of, compliance with, or the enforcement of the requirements under this section or the regulations prescribed thereunder that were in effect on the day before the date of enactment of the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act of 2026, including the requirement to provide closed captioning on video programming that is published or exhibited on television and subsequently delivered using internet protocol or any successor protocol.; (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the following: (d) Caption quality updates (1) In general Not later than 2 years after the date of submission of the recommendations to the Commission under section 106(d)(1) of the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act of 2026, the Commission shall prescribe regulations, taking into account those recommendations, that extend the requirements for the quality of closed captions under section 79.1 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulations, to all online video programming and consumer generated media for which closed captioning is required to be provided under subsection (c) or the regulations prescribed thereunder. (2) Regular updates Not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act of 2026, and every 4 years thereafter, the Commission shall— (A) review its regulations and associated deadlines pertaining to the quality of closed captions; and (B) as necessary, update the regulations and associated deadlines described in subparagraph (A) to reflect technological and methodological advances.; and (4) in subsection (e), as so redesignated— (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking subsection (b) and inserting subsections (b) and (c); and (B) in paragraph (1), by striking provider or owner of such programming and inserting entity responsible for publishing, exhibiting, or making available such programming..