The US DOT ACCESS Committee Nearing Recommendations for Accessible In-Flight Entertainment
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APEX Insight: With one of six plenary sessions to go, the US Department of Transportation is one step closer to recommendations regarding accessible in-flight entertainment for hearing- and visually-impaired travelers. A provisional look at the direction of these discussions and recommendations took shape in the fifth meeting, held this week.
This week the United States Department of Transportation’s ACCESS Advisory Regulatory Committee held its fifth of six planned plenary sessions, and for the first time deliberated on future regulations related to closed captions and descriptive audio for in-flight entertainment (IFE) content made available by airlines that operate in US airspace. The committee will hold its final meeting October 12-14, after which DOT will begin drafting a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that could be published as early as Spring 2017. The publication will be followed by a public comment period, with a final ruling possibly in 2018.
The Negotiated Rulemaking process, which includes representatives from advocacy organizations on behalf of airline passengers with disabilities including visual and auditory impairments as well as industry representatives, was initiated by the DOT to fully assess stakeholder issues and inform the development of its regulations. The APEX Technical Committee, led by Michael Childers, has played a pivotal role in presenting information, including identifying financial and technical challenges related to delivering accessible media, which has helped to frame solution options under consideration by the DOT.
“We’ve established ourselves in the last couple of years with the DOT and the Federal Aviation Administration as a go-to entity when it comes to these important issues,” says Childers. In addition to representing airlines, APEX’s involvement assures that the technical and financial provisions for hardware providers such as Panasonic Avionics and Thales, and content service providers such as Global Eagle Entertainment, are appreciated, says Childers. “APEX has developed workflows and codified technology platforms that make it much easier and much more efficient to arrive at a provision of accessible media.”
Directional Discussion Summary
While no official consensus has been reached by the Committee regarding recommendations, and promulgated regulations would likely not take effect for two or three years, the following summarizes the direction of discussions this week:
NO RETROFITTING: The DOT is not inclined to require airlines to replace existing IFE systems, or systems currently on order, which do not accommodate closed captions.
SUPPLEMENTAL SYSTEMS: For aircraft with inaccessible systems, the DOT would require a supplemental option for deaf and blind passengers, such as wireless streaming to passenger-owned devices or airline-provided devices.
OVERHEAD EXEMPTION: The DOT has expressed that any closed-caption requirement would not apply to aircraft with overhead systems.
FIXED-IMAGE CAPTIONS: Fixed-image or bitmap captions would be compliant with the possible regulation, at least for a number of years after the rule’s effective date, demonstrating the agency’s acknowledgement that a large percentage of in-service systems cannot support passenger-customizable captions via Time-Text.
CONTENT FOCUS: The initial focus will likely be on US-produced, English-language content, particularly movies, where captions and audio descriptions already have been created for other markets. The industry is advocating to exempt legacy content where no captions currently exist; the DOT seems agreeable to this approach.
APEX Closed Caption Working Group Meeting
The APEX Working Group has been meeting regularly and contributing technical information to the ACCESS Committee process. Its next meeting, September 27 at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, is open to all APEX members. Questions will be addressed by Childers; Russ Lemieux, APEX executive director, and other Working Group members who have been directly involved in the Negotiated Rulemaking process. An update will also be delivered October 24 during APEX EXPO in Singapore.
To access the meeting, dial: + 1-415-655-0001
Access code: 197 696 769
The ACCESS Committee consists of 26 persons named by US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. APEX is represented by Michael Childers, APEX Board Member and chair of the Technology Committee, and Russ Lemieux, who acts as the alternate. Other APEX members, including Mark Smith of American Airlines, have been very active in the committee meetings and at the Working Group level.
The DOT rulemaking has been in progress since 2006 when APEX (then WAEA) submitted comments regarding its proposed rule on accessible in-flight media. The agency delayed action at that time in part due to industry comments, and resurrected the issue in 2012, indicating it was preparing to publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. After surveying the industry, APEX developed and submitted a technical white paper and participated in DOT-sponsored seminars on the issue, which the agency acknowledged as instrumental to its understanding and assessment of the issues. This year, the agency formed the ACCESS Committee to further inform its rulemaking process.