Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990
PL 101-431 (S.1974), enacted 10/15/1990

104 STAT. 960 
PUBLIC LAW 101-431—OCT. 15, 1990 
Public Law 101-431 
101st Congress 
An Act 
*Jct. 15, liJDO 
j,Q 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 
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SHORT TITLE 
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SECTION. 1. This Act may be cited as the "Television Decoder 
Cx)mmunications 
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equipment. 
Circuitry Act of 1990 . 
47 u s e 609 note. 
FINDINGS 
47 use 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 tele-
vision 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 improv-
ing the quality of their lives; 
(3) closed-captioned television will provide access to informa-
tion, 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 closed-
captioned television, and such increased market will be an 
incentive to the television medium to provide more captioned 
programming. 
REQUIREMENT 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: 
PUBLIC LAW 101-431—OCT. 15, 1990 
104 STAT. 961 
"(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 trans-
missions 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.". 
PERFORMANCE 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 cir-
cuitry. 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 signsil and display specifications set forth in 
the Public Broadcasting System engineering report numbered E-
7709-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 insert-
ing in lieu thereof ", section 303(s), and section 303(u)". 
EFFECTIVE DATE 
SEC. 5. Sections 3 and 4 of this Act shall take effect on July 1, 47 use 303 note. 
1993. 
104 STAT. 962 
PUBLIC LAW 101-431—OCT. 15, 1990 
RULES 
47 use 303 note. 
SEC. 6. The Federal Communications Commission shall promul-
gate 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 Transporta-
tion). 
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.