"Enhanced ENT" Captioning Deadline is June 30, 2014
Newsrooms that currently use Electronic Newsroom Technique (ENT) to comply with the Federal Communications Commission's closed captioning rules will have until June 30, 2014 to implement the so-called "Enhanced ENT" rules. Enhanced ENT allows certain stations to continue to use ENT captioning provided they abide by a detailed set of "best practices" codified in the new rules. Stations other than the four major national broadcast networks and their affiliates in the Top 25 designated market areas (DMAs) may currently use ENT to caption live programming. Under the new rules, these stations may continue to use ENT only if significant additional portions of their newscasts are scripted/captioned.
More specifically, under the new Enhanced ENT rules, broadcast stations will fall into a compliance "safe harbor" if, among other things, they: (1) script in-studio produced programming, weather information, and pre-produced information; (2) supplement non-scripted live interviews and/or breaking news segments with crawls or textual information; (3) provide training to all news staff; and (4) appoint an ENT Coordinator.
Wiley Rein is glad to provide training to your stations regarding compliance with Enhanced ENT.
