28 CFR Part 36 Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations - Movie Theaters; Movie Captioning and Audio Description Final Rule

3. Voluntary Compliance

Some movie industry commenters asserted that because many movie theater companies already provide captioning and audio description, the Department should refrain from regulating in this area and continue to rely on “voluntary compliance” by the movie theaters. However, individuals with hearing and vision disabilities and other commenters noted that despite the fact that captioning and audio description have been available for more than a decade and those features are widely available to movie theaters at no additional charge, many movie theaters still only show movies with captioning and audio description at intermittent times, and some movie theaters do not offer these services at all.

The Department recognizes that since the publication of its 2010 ANPRM (see supra section IV.B) the number of movie theaters that are showing movies with closed movie captioning and audio description, as well as their regularity in offering those features, has increased significantly. This described increase is attributable in large part to settlements of Federal or State disability rights lawsuits brought by private plaintiffs or State attorneys general against individual movie theater companies in particular jurisdictions within the United States.^[22] Commenters advised the Department that despite the increase in the availability of captioning and audio description in many parts of the country, these features are still not consistently available at all movie theaters.

The Department believes that access to movie theaters for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, or blind or have low vision, should not depend upon where they live.^[23] The Department believes it is in the interest of both the movie theater industry and persons with disabilities to have consistent requirements for captioning and audio description throughout the United States and that this is best accomplished through revising the ADA's title III regulation. As commenters noted, a consistent, nationally applicable regulation ensures that individuals with hearing and vision disabilities can go to the movies with confidence knowing that their movie theater offers these services. The Department is persuaded that it should move forward with this regulation so that the current and ever-increasing number of individuals with hearing and vision disabilities who are unable to enjoy the services offered by movie theaters are afforded equal access to this facet of American life.

22.  See, e.g., Press Release, Illinois Attorney General, Madigan Announces Settlement with AMC Theatres (Apr. 4, 2012), available at http://illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/​pressroom/​2012_​04/​20120404.html (last visited Sept. 12, 2016) (settlement providing for captioning and audio description technology in all AMC theaters in the State of Illinois); Wash. State Commc'n Access Project v. Regal Cinemas, Inc., 293 P.3d 413 (Wash. Ct. App. 2013) (upholding trial court decision under Washington Law Against Discrimination requiring six movie theater chains to provide captioning in the screening of movies in order to accommodate persons who are deaf or hard of hearing); Consent Decree, Arizona ex rel. v. Harkins Amusement Enters., Inc., No. CV07-703 PHX ROS (D. Ariz. Nov. 7, 2011); Complaint, Ass'n of Late-Deafened Adults, Inc. v. Cinemark Holdings, Inc., No. 10548765 (Cal. Super. Ct. Nov. 30, 2010) (complaint relating to later settlement requiring Cinemark to provide closed movie captioning in all of its California theaters); Press Release, Cinemark Holdings, Inc., Cinemark and ALDA Announce Greater Movie Theatre Accessibility for Customers Who Are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing (Apr. 26, 2011), available at http://www.cinemark.com/​pressreleasedetail.aspx?​node_​id=​22850 (last visited Sept. 12, 2016).

23.  It is the Department's understanding that persons who live in communities served only by smaller regional movie theater chains are less likely to have access to captioned and audio-described movies than individuals with disabilities who live in California, Arizona, or any of the major cities with movie theaters operated by Regal, Cinemark, or AMC. The Department bases this belief on its review of the information provided by Captionfish, which is a nationwide search engine that monitors which movie theaters offer both closed and open movie captioning and audio description and updates its Web site regularly. See Captionfish, Frequently Asked Questions, http://www.captionfish.com/​faq (last visited Sept. 12, 2016). The Department also bases this belief on information from comments that accessibility is scarce outside of major metropolitan areas. Advocacy groups commented that they consistently receive complaints from individuals with hearing and vision disabilities who are denied equal access at movie theaters operated by companies not subject to the various settlement agreements.