MundoFox is a joint venture between Fox International Channels (FIC), 21st Century Fox's international multimedia business, and RCN, the leading Latin American television network and production company belonging to Organizacion Ardila Lulle (OAL). Together FIC and RCN currently reach over 1.6 billion subscribers worldwide with original series, novelas, dramas, game shows, reality, news and lifestyle programming.
Comcast and other cable networks carry MundoFox in some cities. El Capo is a new show. I think they should have to include captions, at least in Spanish.
Close-captioning is designed to assist the hearing-diabled. But it also helps those who are language-impaired and can't understand the dialogue because it is spoken to fast. I don't think it matters what the particular disability is since Congress, in 1996, enacted a law requiring programming distributors (broadcasters, cable operators, satellite distributors, and other multi-channel video programming distributors) to close caption their television programs. Since 2006, 100% of all new, non-exempt, English-language television programming must be produced and presented with closed captions.
One exemption is for new television networks. In 1997, the FCC adopted a self implementing exemption for new networks, broadcast or non-broadcast, for the first four years after the network’s launch date. See, 1997 Closed Captioning Report and Order, 13 FCC Rcd at 3346, ¶ 154. Also see 47 C.F.R. § 79.1(d)(9) and 47 C.F.R. §§ 79.1(b)(1)(iv), (b)(2)(ii), (b)(3)(iv) and (b)(4)(ii).
Paragraphs 153, 155 and 157 of the February, 2014 Closed Captioning Report and Order are the paragraphs asking for comments on eliminating the exemption for new networks, or at least new networks that are part of conglomerates of established networks.
"It would seem, given that the purpose of the new network exemption is to allow start-up networks to get off the ground before being subject to the captioning obligations, that any exemption should be limited to only those new networks that do not have the sophistication or financial backing required to plan for the dissemination of captioned programming.
Accordingly, even if we retain the new
network exemption, should the exemption apply only to new networks that have certain other indicia of a start-up network, e.g., local or regional in nature, accessible by a small number of households, and ownership by a small business?
...Alternatively, should networks with significant financial backing be deemed ineligible for the new network exemption? For example, should the exemption not apply to new networks that are owned, in whole or part, by one of the four major national broadcast networks or the top ten non-broadcast networks? How do the relative costs and burdens of requiring new networks to provide captioning under each of these alternatives compare with the benefits of greater accessibility to television programming?
El Capo 3, unlike El Capo 1 and 2 and many other other Spanish series, first aired in the U.S. It's not a rebroadcast of a show that first aired in another country. While the following comment request doesn't really apply to El Capo, I'm going to address it anyway, because I'd also like to be able to watch and read what is being said on shows like Los Tres Caines and La Ruta Blanca. The Commission asks:
Next, we note that MVPDs serving U.S. subscribers increasingly offer video programming networks that were initially launched in foreign markets. We recognize that closed captioning could impose new costs on such networks, especially where the originating country does not require closed captioning of its video programming. In the event we retain the new network exemption, we seek comment on whether a network that has operated in a foreign market and that moves to distribution or “launches” in the U.S., should be eligible for a new network exemption for a certain period of time after it launches in the U.S. and, if so, what the duration of that exemption should be.
....We ask commenters that believe we should calculate an exemption upon moving the network’s programming to the U.S. to explain why this exemption is necessary, given that such networks will have been in operation (and presumably generating revenues) and will have advance notice of U.S. captioning obligations prior to launching in the U.S. How do the costs and burdens of providing captioning on networks showing programming in the U.S. after first showing programming in foreign countries compare with the benefits of greater accessibility to television programming?
In my view, no. By now the major Spanish networks, especially Telemundo, Univision, Unimas, Galavision, Caracol and RCN know when producing new shows that these shows will air in the U.S. at some point, and that the U.S. requires close captions on all new programming.
This is an open thread, all topics welcome.
