PUBLIC LAW 101-431--OCT. 15, 1990

TELEVISION DECODER CIRCUITRY

ACT OF 1990
PUBLIC LAW 101-431--OCT. 15, 1990

Public Law 101-431

101st Congress

An Act

Oct 15, 1990 To require new televisions to have built in decoder circuitry.

[S. 1974]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the

Television United States of America in Congress assembled,

Decoder

Circuitry Act of SHORT TITLE

1990.

~Handicapped. SECrON. 1. This Act/may be cited as the "Television Decoder

equipment. Circuitry Act of 1990".

47 USC 609 note.

FINDINGS

47 USC 303 note. SEC. 2. The Congress finds that-

(1) to the fullest extent made possible by technology, deaf and

hearing-impaired people should have equal access to the television medium;

(2) closed-captioned television transmissions have made it

possible for thousands of deaf and hearing-impaired people to

gain access to the television medium, thus significantly improving the quality of their lives;

(3) closed-captioned television will provide access to information, entertainment, and a greater understanding of our Nation

and the world to over 24,000,000 people in the United States

who are deaf or hearing-impaired;

(4) closed-captioned television will provide benefits for the

nearly 38 percent of older Americans who have some loss of

hearing, (5) closed-captioned television can assist both hearing and

hearing-impaired children with reading and other learning

skills, and improve literacy skills among adults;

(6) closed-captioned television can assist those among our

Nation's large immigrant population who are learning English

as a second language with language comprehension;

(7) currently, a consumer must buy a TeleCaption decoder and

connect the decoder to a television set in order to display the

closed-captioned television transmissions;

(8) technology is now available to enable that closed-caption

decoding capability to be built into new television sets during

manufacture at a nominal cost by 1991; and

(9) the availability of decoder-equipped television sets will

significantly increase the audience that can be served by closedcaptioned television, and such increased market will be an

incentive to the television medium to provide more captioned

programming.

REQUIRMENT FOR CLOSED-CAPTIONING EQUIPMENT

SEC. 3. Section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.

303) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

49-1R 0 - 90 (4A11

104 STAT. 960
PUBLIC LAW 101-431--OCT. 15, 1990

"(u) Require that apparatus designed to receive television pictures Manufacturers.

broadcast simultaneously with sound be equipped with built-in de- Imports.

coder circuitry designed to display closed-captioned television transmissions when such apparatus is manufactured in the United States

or imported for use in the United States, and its television picture

screen is 13 inches or greater in size.".

PERFORMANCL AND DISPLAY STANDARDS

SEc. 4. (a) Section 330 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

U.S.C. 330) is amended by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection

(c), and by inserting immediately after subsection (a) the following

new subsection:

"(b) No person shall ship in interstate commerce, manufacture,

assemble, or import from any foreign country into the United

States, any apparatus described in section 303(u) of this Act except

in accordance with rules prescribed by the Commission pursuant to

the authority granted by that section. Such rules shall provide

performance and display standards for such built-in decoder circuitry. Such rules shall further require that all such apparatus be

able to receive and display closed captioning which have been

transmitted by way of line 21 of the vertical blanking interval and

which conform to the signal and display specifications set forth in

the Public Broadcasting System engineering report numbered E7709-C dated May 1980, as amended by the Telecaption II Decoder

Module Performance Specification published by the National

Captioning Institute, November 1985. As new video technology is

developed, the Commission shall take such action as the Commission

determines appropriate to ensure that closed-captioning service

continues to be available to consumers. This subsection shall not

apply to carriers transporting such apparatus without trading it.".

(b) Section 330(c) of such Act, as redesignated by subsection (a) of

this section, is amended by deleting "and section 303(s)" and inserting in lieu thereof ", section 303(s), and section 303(u)".

1 1FFlrIVE DATE

SEc. 5. Sections 3 and 4 of this Act shall take effect on July 1, 47 USC 303 note.

1993.

104 STAT. 961
104 STAT. 962 PUBLIC LAW 101-431--OCT. 15, 1990

RULES

47 USC 303 note. SEC. 6. The Federal Communications Commission shall promulgate rules to implement this Act within 180 days after the date of its

enactment.

Approved October 15, 1990.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY-S. 1974 (H.R. 4267):

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 101-767 accompanying H.R. 4267 (Comm. on Energy and

Commerce).

SENATE REPORTS: No. 101-393 (Comm. on Commerce, Science, and Transportation).

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, VoL 136 (1990):

Aug. 2, considered and passed Senate.

Oct. 1, H.R. 4267 considered and passed House; S. 1974 passed in lieu.

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