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In Broadcasting Public Notice 2007-54, the Commission indicated that it would require all broadcasters, including third-language broadcasters, to caption 100% of their English- and French-language programs, with the exception of advertising and promos.
In Broadcasting and Telecom Regulatory Policy 2009-430 (the Accessibility Policy), the Commission noted that captioning technology, including voice recognition software - which is used extensively in captioning French-language programming - has greatly improved and should no longer be considered a technology in development. Consequently, in accordance with the Accessibility Policy, the Commission has set out in the appendix to this document a standardized condition of licence requiring licensees of new Category 2 programming undertakings to:
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ensure that advertising, sponsorship messages and promos are closed captioned by no later than the fourth year of the licence term;
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adhere to the quality standards on closed captioning developed by television industry working groups, as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission; and
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implement a monitoring system to ensure that closed captioning is included in the broadcast signal and that captioning reaches the viewer in its original form.
In the Accessibility Policy, the Commission also indicated that it would continue to require conventional and Category 1 broadcasters to provide four hours of described video per week. The Commission determines that it is appropriate not to impose a condition of licence to that effect for Category 2 services at this time. Nonetheless, the Commission expects such services to acquire and make available described versions of programming whenever possible.
Further, in that same policy, the Commission indicated that licensees would be required, by condition of licence, to provide audio description for all information programs, including news programming. A condition of licence to this effect is set out in the appendix to this document.
Source: CRTC, 06/08/2010
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