Final Regulatory Assessment and Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Final Rule - Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations - Movie Theaters; Movie Captioning and Audio Description

In addition to the upfront costs associated with hardware and device acquisition and installation, movie theaters will incur ongoing annual costs to maintain and operate captioning and audio description equipment.  The Final RA calculates three types of ongoing annual costs:

• Replacement Costs;

• Training Costs; and

• Maintenance and Administrative Costs.

The Final RA estimates the costs to replace captioning and audio description hardware and devices over the time frame of the analysis.  Because the 15-year time frame for this rule exceeds the expected life of captioning and audio description equipment, the analysis incorporates a replacement schedule whereby this equipment is assumed to require replacement over a span of several years based on its expected useful life.  A portion of the captioning and audio description devices are replaced annually, and hardware is expected to need replacement every nine to eleven years.  The data and assumptions used to calculate the replacement costs are presented in Section 3.6.

In addition to the acquisition, installation, and replacement of equipment, the rule requires staff to be able to provide patrons with captioning and audio description devices and to direct patrons on the devices’ use.  This requirement can most easily be met by expanding the training for those employees who will already be on-site to manage or oversee overall operations or the exhibition of the movies.  In addition, staff already distributes assistive listening devices (devices required under the current ADA 2010 Standards) when requested by patrons and directs such patrons on the use of those devices.  It is reasonable to assume that the same staff members would provide assistance with the captioning and audio description devices as well.  Separate staff with ADA expertise is not required.  Because the operational requirements of this rule apply to all digital auditoriums and not just those purchasing captioning and audio description as a direct result of this rulemaking, the Department’s estimate of training costs includes the training costs for movie theaters already equipped to provide closed movie captioning and audio description.
Figure 2-4 shows how additional training time is monetized using the hourly employment cost for movie theater employees.  The data and assumptions used to estimate training costs are outlined in Section 3.7.

Figure 2-4 : Employee Training Calculation

Any additional maintenance and administrative costs are also included in the analysis.  These costs include other potential costs not explicitly covered by the other cost components already included in the analysis (i.e., acquisition, installation, replacement, and training).  The maintenance and administrative costs include, but are not limited to:

• Periodic ongoing maintenance, system testing, and cleaning of devices – Under heavy use from patrons, movie theaters explain that the maintenance of individual devices is necessary in between uses to ensure that the devices are clean and fully operational upon request.  Depending on the technology, movie theaters may need to periodically replace the batteries in the devices.  This also includes any additional costs associated with troubleshooting, system testing, and software upgrades.

• Other additional administrative costs – These administrative costs include time spent providing and collecting captioning and audio description devices and demonstrating their use, if needed.  This also includes any costs associated with researching available systems to implement in addition to any other administrative costs.

To account for these costs, an annual cost factor is applied as a percentage of the total upfront costs.  The assumptions used to calculate maintenance and administrative costs throughout the analysis are presented in Section 3.8.

This section outlines the Department’s research regarding the costs pertaining to repairs and notice.  As explained below, these costs are expected to be de minimis and are not included in the analysis.

Information provided by manufacturers and other industry sources suggests that repair costs for captioning and audio description equipment will be relatively modest.  Captioning and audio description hardware is typically mounted high on a wall in a movie theater auditorium or otherwise placed in the projection booth.  As a result, it is unlikely to be tampered with or accidently broken by patrons or movie theater staff.  Captioning and audio description devices, on the other hand, are more prone to potential wear and tear by virtue of their use by movie patrons.  Thus, it is expected that captioning devices will require occasional cleaning or minor maintenance by movie theater staff, but these costs are captured by the ongoing maintenance and administrative costs.  Manufacturers also noted that repair of such equipment is rare.  For the most part, if equipment breaks down, the answer is replacement rather than repair.  Such costs are captured by the hardware and device replacement costs (Section 3.6).  Any additional repair costs for captioning and audio description equipment are thus expected to be de minimis.

The rule also requires that when movie theaters publish movie listings at the box office and other ticketing locations, on Web sites and mobile apps, in newspapers, and over the phone to inform patrons of show times, such communications must also indicate which screenings will be captioned or audio-described.  Based on independent research and public comments, the Department expects that the additional cost of noting which screenings will be captioned or audio-described is de minimis when a movie theater is already preparing a communication listing movie titles and screening times.

As previously discussed in Section 1.4.3, the notice requirement does not require a movie theater to implement a specific form of notice.  Movie theaters routinely use “CC” and “AD” or “DV” to indicate the availability of closed movie captioning and audio description in their communications, and the Department’s research indicates that the inclusion of such abbreviations does not increase the cost of advertisements.  Moreover, the movie exhibition industry has largely moved away from print advertising in favor of digital advertising.  As one commenter indicated, digital advertising allows movie theaters to add information concerning the availability of captioning and audio description without much difficulty or cost. 

The Department acknowledges that movie theaters will likely need to add this information to their existing listings of movie showings and times on a regular basis until such time that all movies are distributed with these features.  Based on research conducted by the Department, we believe that information in the listings related to the availability of closed movie captions and audio description would only need to be updated when a new movie with these features is added to the schedule.  This will vary as some movies stay on the schedule for longer periods of time than other movies.  However, since movie theaters regularly update their listings with respect to the list and times of movies they are showing, the Department believes that the additional amount of time and cost it takes to add information concerning the availability of captioning and audio description remains insignificant.