CVAA: Cable Ops Won't Have to Provide New Guide Info

The Federal Communications Commission has decided not to require cable operators to add new information to their onscreen program guides as part of a congressional accessibility mandate, according to a source familiar with the as-yet unreleased rules for what is billed as the last major element of its implementation of the Communications Video Accessibility Act (CVAA).

Cable operators will have three years from the Office of Management and Budget's sign-off of the implementation order to comply, but mid-sized and smaller operators will have up to five years. The rules deal with the accessibility for the blind and visually impaired of onscreen guides, and does not require that all boxes be compliant, only that compliant devices be made available upon request. While larger cable operators will have three years to comply, the FCC will allow systems with 400,000 or fewer subs and not owned by one of the two largest operators up to five years to comply -- they must request an extension--and systems of 20,000 or fewer subs no matter who owns them.