EMERGENCIES;

You asked (1) whether the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires that broadcasts of emergency announcements be in closed captioning and (2) if so, whether this rule was in force on September 11, 2001.

Under FCC regulations that went into effect before September 11, 2001, broadcasters, cable TV operators, and satellite television services must make emergency information accessible to persons with hearing and vision disabilities (47 CFR § 79. 2). To inform deaf or hard of hearing people, emergency information provided in the audio portion of the programming must be provided using closed captioning or other methods, such as open captioning, crawls, or scrolls that appear on the screen. Emergency information provided by means other than closed captioning cannot block any closed captioning, and closed captioning cannot block emergency information provided by other means. These provisions went into effect on August 29, 2000.

Similarly, emergency information that is provided in the video portion of a regularly scheduled newscast or a newscast that interrupts regular programming must be made accessible to blind or vision-impaired people. If the information is being provided in the video portion of programming that is not a regularly scheduled newscast or a newscast that interrupts regular programming (e. g. , the programmer provides the emergency information through “crawling” or “scrolling” during regular programming), this information must be accompanied by an aural tone. This tone is designed to alert persons with vision disabilities that the broadcaster is providing emergency information, and alert such persons to tune to a radio, the Secondary Audio Programming (“SAP”) channel on the TV, or a designated digital channel for more information. This provision went into effect on February 2, 2001. More information about the FCC rule can be found on FCC’s Website, http: //hraunfoss. fcc. gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-02-1852A1. doc.

The Emergency Alert System is also capable of broadcasting alerts in languages other than English. More information about the system is available on FCC’s Website, http: //www. ncs. gov/n5_hp/Customer_Service/XAffairs/NewService/NCS9833. htm.

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