FCC Should 'Deepen' Kidvid Inquiry, Say Consumer Groups

The FCC should “deepen and broaden” its inquiry into how changes to the kidvid rules affect the accessibility of children’s programming, said Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and numerous other accessibility consumer groups in an ex parte meeting Friday with staff from the Media Bureau, Disability Rights Office and Governmental Affairs Bureau, per an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-202. The agency should act “not only to ensure that the children’s programming rules do not funnel programming to contexts where captioning and description are not required,” but also to “ensure more generally that all children’s programming is accessible.” With video programming converging, “drawing distinctions in the application of accessibility rules on the basis of antiquated technical distinctions” is “not a tenable long-term strategy,” said the groups, which included the National Association of the Deaf, the Hearing Loss Association of America and the Technology Access Program at Gallaudet University.