August 27, 2026
Source: Federal Communication Commission (FCC).
On August 26, 2026, the FCC adopted a Report and Order amending rules around captioning registration and certification requirements. Video programmers do not need to register and certify to the captioning rules if they provide programs only to public, educational, and governmental access (PEG) channels that are exempt from captioning requirements.
Additionally, if a nonbroadcast network certifies that all of its programming is either exempt from or in compliance with the captioning rules, that network’s individual video programmers do not need to register and certify to the captioning rules.
The changes adopted by the FCC do not go into effect right away. First, the Office of Management and Budget must complete its review of these changes. After that, the changes must be published in the Federal Register. Once those steps are finished, the FCC will issue a Public Notice announcing the effective date of these changes.
Report and Order: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-amends-closed-captioning-rules-video-programmers
For general information about accessible PEG programming, visit: https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2015/11/roundtable-discussion-of-closed-captioning-for-public-access-and-governmental-programming. For information about closed captioning on television, visit https://www.fcc.gov/general/closed-captioning-video-programming-television. For specific questions about this item, please contact Joshua Mendelsohn, Disability Rights Office, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, at (202) 559-7304 or Joshua.Mendelsohn@fcc.gov.
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