{"id":16470,"date":"2011-11-01T04:32:58","date_gmt":"2011-11-01T09:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=16470"},"modified":"2011-11-01T05:04:34","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T10:04:34","slug":"fcc-cracks-down-on-religious-broadcasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2011\/11\/01\/fcc-cracks-down-on-religious-broadcasters\/","title":{"rendered":"FCC cracks down on religious broadcasters"},"content":{"rendered":"

FCC cracks down on religious broadcasters<\/strong><\/p>\n

By BROOKS BOLIEK<\/p>\n

October31, 2011<\/p>\n

If a church broadcasts the word of God on TV without closed captions, it
\nrisks incurring the wrath of the FCC.<\/p>\n

Some 300 small- to medium-sized churches can expect letters from the
\ncommission within the next few days explaining why their closed captioning
\nexemptions were lifted for TV shows like \u201cPower in the Word\u201d and \u201cProducing
\nKingdom Citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FCC has been mailing the letters for the past few days to churches from
\nMaine to California, explaining that the hundreds of exemptions are now
\nrescinded and giving the programmers 90 days to reapply.<\/p>\n

The churches were granted FCC exemptions from the closed captioning
\nrequirement under a 2006 commission decision known as the \u201cAnglers Order\u201d
\nfor the Anglers for Christ Ministries program that had argued for exemption
\nfrom the rules.<\/p>\n

While the FCC\u2019s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau used the Anglers
\nOrder as the model to grant at least 298 other exemptions, the full
\ncommission overturned that decision Oct. 20 after objections were raised
\nfrom a coalition of organizations for the deaf and hard of hearing.<\/p>\n

The churches may still be eligible to win an exemption from the rules if
\nthey can prove they can\u2019t afford closed captioning, but they now have to
\nmake their case individually.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a process that went awry,\u201d said Craig Parshall, senior vice
\npresident of the National Religious Broadcasters, an international
\nassociation of Christian communicators. \u201cNow, we are going back to Square
\nOne.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocacy groups for the deaf contend that the bureau erred when it granted
\nthe exemptions en masse because that created a virtual blanket exemption for
\nnonprofit organizations. Under the closed captioning law, programmers can
\nwin an exemption if they can prove that the cost of the captioning will
\ncause an undue economic hardship.<\/p>\n

The groups wrote to the FCC asking commissioners to overrule the bureau
\norder arguing that the order \u201cimproperly and unilaterally established a new
\nclass of exempt programming.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the commission\u2019s decision has an immediate impact on churches across
\nthe country, it isn\u2019t directed at religious organizations in particular,
\nParshall said. Small- and medium-sized churches just happened to apply for
\nexemptions under the closed captioning law\u2019s exception for TV shows where
\npaying for captioning is an undue economic burden, Parshall explained.<\/p>\n

Advocates for the deaf said they were pleased the commission was taking
\naction on the issue, and hoped that it would make more programming
\naccessible to the deaf and hearing impaired.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, we look forward to viewing more TV shows that were not captioned
\nbefore,\u201d said Jim House, spokesman for Telecommunications for the Deaf and
\nHard of Hearing, Inc. \u201cIt is our hope that those producers affected by the
\ndecision would see the positive benefits of making their shows accessible to
\nmore and more viewers and find that it is the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Religious broadcasters want to reach the deaf community, but requiring
\nchurches across the country to close caption their TV programs could force
\nthe programming off the air, Parshall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe our message needs to get out to the deaf and disabled
\ncommunities,\u201d Parshall explained. \u201cAll we want is a sensible regulatory
\nstructure that recognizes the plight of the small Christian broadcaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source:
\nhttp:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/stories\/1011\/67260.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Also see Ed Bosson’s Alert blog about it.
\nhttp:\/\/www.edsalert.com\/2011\/10\/31\/fcc-reverses-its-decision-on-past-ruling-on-cc\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FCC cracks down on religious broadcasters By BROOKS BOLIEK October31, 2011 If a church broadcasts the word of God on TV without closed captions, it risks incurring the wrath of the FCC. Some 300 small- to medium-sized churches can expect…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[600,11392,8498,1069,533,94,1188,7181,11390,24,198,342,2019,1412,6909,11391,11393,11394,181,11389],"class_list":["post-16470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-advocacy","tag-anglers-order","tag-broadcaster","tag-cc","tag-christian","tag-church","tag-closed-captioning","tag-consumer-and-governmental-affairs-bureau","tag-craig-parshall","tag-deaf","tag-ed-bosson","tag-fcc","tag-federal-communications-commission","tag-hard-of-hearing","tag-jim-house","tag-national-religious-broadcasters","tag-power-in-the-word","tag-producing-kingdom-citizens","tag-religious","tag-tv-shows"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-4hE","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":440,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2006\/09\/19\/tell-the-fcc-you-have-the-right-to-access-captioning-for-local-religious-tv-programs\/","url_meta":{"origin":16470,"position":0},"title":"Tell the FCC You Have the Right to Access Captioning for Local Religious TV Programs","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"September 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"TDI-L eNote 9\/18\/06 ACTION ALERT \u2013 Tell the FCC You Have the Right to Access Captioning for Local Religious TV Programs TDI wants to thank you for sending letters to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last month regarding their actions on TV emergency captioning. 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The exemptions, over 270 of them, were given by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to mostly faith-based organizations. Few of these\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1811,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2007\/06\/18\/digital-revolution-excludes-closed-captioning\/","url_meta":{"origin":16470,"position":3},"title":"Digital Revolution Excludes Closed Captioning","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"June 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"June 17, 2007 Digital Revolution Excludes Closed Captioning The Digital Revolution Has Made TV More Ubiquitous Than Ever -- Except for Viewers Who Need Captioning By James Hibberd Colleen Farrell is a 21-year-old college senior who's been shut out of television's digital revolution. 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