28 CFR Parts 35 and 36, Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations - Movie Theaters; Movie Captioning and Audio Description (NPRM)

Closed movie captioning (Section-by-Section Analysis)

The Department notes that the term “closed captioning” is referenced in the examples of auxiliary aids and services in § 36.303(b).  That section refers to “closed captioning” in the much broader context of auxiliary aids and services that must be provided by a wide range of public accommodations subject to title III.  In order to distinguish between the general auxiliary aid and service requirement and the “closed captioning” that is required by § 36.303(g)(2), the Department is proposing to define the term “closed movie captioning” specifically as it applies to movie theaters.  In § 36.303(g)(1)(ii), the Department proposes to define “closed movie captioning” as “the written text of the movie dialogue and other sounds or sound making (e.g., sound effects, music, and the character who is speaking). Closed movie captioning is available only to individuals who request it.  Generally, it requires the use of an individual captioning device to deliver the captions to the patron.”

The Department received one comment encouraging it to use the term “individual captioning” instead of “closed captioning” to refer to the circumstances where captions are received through the use of individual devices.  This commenter distinguished between three types of captioning: open captioning, where the captions are displayed on the screen and cannot be turned off; closed captioning as the term is used in the context of television and video where the captions can be turned on or off, but when they are displayed everyone in the room sees them; and individual captioning systems, where only the individual viewer sees the captions, but they are not displayed to the entire audience.  As stated earlier, the Department wishes to avoid confusion between the “closed captioning” provided on television and in other venues, and those provided in movie theaters.  However, it believes its proposed term “closed movie captioning” will address that concern without introducing a term that is wholly different from that currently used by the movie industry and the courts.

Question 4: Should the Department use the term “closed movie captioning” to refer to the type of captioning provided by movie theaters to individuals who view the captions at their seats?  Is there a different term that should be used in order to distinguish between the closed captioning referred to in § 36.303(b) and the captioning required for movie theaters in proposed § 36.303(g)(2)?