CEA became the third to ask the FCC to revisit parts...

for videogames. The agency shouldn’t make removable media players like those that play Blu-ray discs and DVDs apparatus covered by the requirement that traditional TV shows be captioned when delivered by IP, CEA said. It asked the agency “to limit the applicability of the apparatus closed captioning rules to only those devices intended by the manufacturer to receive, play back, or record video programming.” Unneeded “industry compliance costs” would be saved by not requiring DVD players to display captions, with “strong public policy reasons ... because the content on the media that these players need to operate is not required to be closed captioned,” said a petition for reconsideration posted Tuesday in docket 11-154 (http://xrl.us/bm5z4q). The association also asked for a clarification that the Jan. 1, 2014, compliance deadline is for the date of a device’s manufacture. ESA cited “the broad recognition among private and public stakeholders, including other federal agencies” that the types of videogames and services it seeks exemption from advanced communications service accessibility rules “have a primary purpose of playing, enabling or distributing games” and not ACS. The waiver isn’t for “general-purpose products or services” and is “limited to game industry products and services,” the association reported executives told officials of the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology. An ex parte filing posted Tuesday to docket 10-213 (http://xrl.us/bm5z5v) noted the waivers are sought for products “that may allow consumers to access and use some ACS, but are designed primarily to enable the playing of or access to video games."