STATEMENT OF 
COMMISSIONER JONATHAN S. ADELSTEIN
Re. Closed Captioning of Video Programming; Closed Captioning Requirements for 
Digital Television Receivers, CG Docket No. 05-231 and ET Docket No. 99-254.
I am pleased to support today’s decision to clarify the closed captioning obligations of 
video programmers and to streamline the complaint process.  With this item, we have taken a 
critical step towards ensuring that we do neglect those in the deaf and hard-of-hearing 
community when we transition to digital television in early 2009.   
In light of the upcoming DTV transition, our decision stresses the importance of 
minimizing disruptions to consumers’ access to programming.  This rationale holds true for 
hearing-impaired viewers who have come to rely on receiving closed captioned programs.  
Under the Declaratory Ruling we adopt today, we remind video program distributors that the 
closed captioning rules will continue to apply regardless of technological changes in the media 
landscape.  
For more than a decade, these rules have helped individuals who are deaf or hard-of-
hearing stay connected to news, information, and entertainment.  However, since its inception, 
our process for ensuring that video programmers meet these obligations has been unnecessarily
complicated.  Consumers affected by a distributor’s failure to provide closed captioning were 
forced to take their complaints directly to the distributor, and faced a long waiting period before 
the distributor was required to act.  I applaud today’s decision to streamline the process by 
providing a means for consumers to contact the Commission directly as well as requiring 
programmers to dedicate a phone line, email address and fax number for handling complaints in 
a timely manner.
As we monitor the advances we make with our improved complaint process, we should 
continue to consider whether it may be necessary to require all video programmers to file 
periodic compliance reports.  Although today’s decision will make it easier for consumers to 
identify video programmers that are not meeting their closed captioning obligations, there may 
be situations in which failures to comply slip through the cracks.  I encourage the Commission to 
persist with reassessing our rules as we transition to digital to ensure that we are meeting the 
needs of hearing-impaired viewers to the greatest extent feasible.