The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) submitted reply comments backing petitions from...
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) submitted reply comments backing petitions from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the CEA to be let out of certain accessibility rules with respect to TV sets and video game consoles that can also be…
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used for advanced communications services (ACS) such as VoIP and videoconferencing. CEA and ESA also submitted reply comments in support of their own petitions. How the FCC rules on these waivers “will indicate how this new regulatory regime will be applied and enforced more generally moving forward,” TIA said (http://xrl.us/bncyex). “We urge the Commission to avoid an overly-rigid interpretation of the ACS rules to technologies that are used for non-ACS purposes,” it said. “TIA urges the Commission to take this opportunity to set a precedent of regulatory flexibility that will encourage innovation in ACS, and to provide the designers and manufacturers much-needed regulatory certainty in the application and enforcement of ACS rules.” The ESA said its waiver request should be granted, contrary to arguments of some consumer advocates (http://xrl.us/bncyfh). “ESA is cognizant of the concerns of disabled gamers and ESA members are taking steps to make games more accessible independent of any legal requirement to do so,” it said. Granting the waivers will promote “predictability and certainty among game makers, who otherwise may decline to experiment with ACS features for fear that such experimentation may trigger unclear regulatory obligations disproportionate to the feature’s value to the overall product or service,” it said. Similarly, the CEA again asked the commission to waive the ACS accessibility rules temporarily and with respect to certain TV sets and video players (http://xrl.us/bncygn).