ACA, NCTA Seek Flexibility in CVAA Implementation

The American Cable Association and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association are on the same page in regards to the Federal Communications Commission giving smaller operators some flexibility when it comes to requiring digital navigation devices to be usable by the blind or visually impaired. That came in comments on FCC implementation of the Twenty First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) and its May Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on how the accessibility mandate should be applied to on-screen navigation devices.

ACA is not trying to get out of the requirement, but instead to provide those services "in the most cost-efficient manner," the group says. ACA represents small and mid-sized operators. ACA wants the FCC to allow systems with 20,000 or fewer subs -- some ACA members have only a few hundred -- the flexibility in cost and time frames to make the mandates achievable and reasonable. NCTA agreed that smaller operators need help.