Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 110 Part 1.djvu/150

 110 STAT. 126 PUBLIC LAW 104-104—FEB. 8, 1996 programming systems, technology, or products. Upon an appropriate showing, the Commission shall grant any such waiver request within 90 days of any application filed under this subsection, and such waiver shall be effective for all service providers and products in that category and for all providers of services and products. "(d) AVOIDANCE OF REDUNDANT REGULATIONS.— " (1) COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY DETERMINATIONS. —Determinations made or regulations prescribed by the Commission with respect to commercial availability to consumers of converter boxes, interactive communications equipment, and other equipment used by consumers to access multichannel video programming and other services offered over multichannel video programming systems, before the date of enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 shall fulfill the requirements of this section. "(2) REGULATIONS.— Nothing in this section affects section 64.702(e) of the Commission's regulations (47 C.F.R. 64.702(e)) or other Commission regulations governing interconnection and competitive provision of customer premises equipment used in connection with basic common carrier communications services. "(e) SUNSET. — The regulations adopted under this section shall cease to apply when the Commission determines that— "(1) the market for the multichannel video programming distributors is fully competitive; "(2) the market for converter boxes, and interactive communications equipment, used in conjunction with that service is fully competitive; and "(3) elimination of the regulations would promote competition and the public interest. "(f) COMMISSION'S AUTHORITY.— Nothing in this section shall be construed as expanding or limiting any authority that the Commission may have under law in effect before the date of enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.". SEC. 305. VIDEO PROGRAMMING ACCESSIBILITY. Title VII is amended by inserting after section 712 (47 U.S.C. 612) the following new section: 47 USC 613. "SEC. 713. VIDEO PROGRAMMING ACCESSIBILITY. "(a) COMMISSION INQUIRY. —Within 180 days after the date of enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Federal Communications Commission shall complete an inquiry to ascertain the level at which video programming is closed captioned. Such inquiry shall examine the extent to which existing or previously published programming is closed captioned, the size of the video programming provider or programming owner providing closed captioning, the size of the market served, the relative audience Reports. shares achieved, or any other related factors. The Commission shall submit to the Congress a report on the results of such inquiry. Regulations. " (b) ACCOUNTABILITY CRITERIA.— Within 18 months after such date of enactment, the Commission shall prescribe such regulations as are necessary to implement this section. Such regulations shall ensure that— "(1) video programming first published or exhibited after the effective date of such regulations is fully accessible through the provision of closed captions, except as provided in subsection (d); and

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