Reviewing The Impact Of The DOJ's New Accessibility Regulations For Movie Theaters

Today, the Department of Justice announced that they have published the final rule clarifying a movie theater's obligations to provide appropriate auxiliary aids and services for people with disabilities who come to see a film. The Final Rule now is available online on the Federal Register’s website and on the Department's ADA website. The rule will take effect on January 17, 2017. Prior to publishing this rule, the DOJ released an advance copy of the final rule, as well as a FAQ on the rule on their ADA website. 

The impact of these regulations will depend on the particular movie theater company. Most large movie chains have already made their theaters accessible to the Deaf and Blind. For them, the impact will be minimal. However, the effect of these new regulations may be a burden on smaller movie theater companies or independently owned movie theater companies.

For the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, the new DOJ rules requires theaters with digital screens must provide closed captions to Deaf and Hard of Hearing customers. Two years ago, the DOJ published a "July 11, 2014 Initial Regulatory Assessment and Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis" for the new proposed rule making for movie theaters with digital screens, it notes that "currently, there are four different closed caption technologies for digital cinema systems available on the commercial market—the Rear Window® system; the CaptiView™ system by Doremi Cinema, LLC; Ultra Stereo Labs (USL), Inc.’s closed caption infrared system; and Sony’s Entertainment Access Glasses and Audio Description receivers.[17] The Department understands that about 300 RWC systems are currently installed at U.S. movie theaters nationwide; research by the Department also suggests that as of March 2013, about 9,750 Doremi CaptiView™ systems have been installed domestically. Sony’s glasses are a recent entrant to the market, first available in 2012."

Most movie theaters will be able to easily comply with the new regulations since many of the theaters already have caption technologies long before the new rules were released. 

I will briefly review the Rear Window system, the CaptiView system and the Sony Access Glasses and how they help Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals enjoy movies that they see at their local movie theater.

Rear Window Captioning System

Rear Window Captions were created for the 35mm Prints, but it has been reconfigured for use in digital formats. There is a small rectangular screen that is at the back of the movie theater that displays the captions in reverse and the mirror will show the captions in the proper order. This technology is placed into the seat cupholder for the Deaf person to view.

The problem with the Rearview technology is that the words on the screen are often small or are blocked by the screen grids.Additionally, it does not provide "outside noises" beyond dialogue, such as a helicopter, crowd noise which are  not captioned the way they normally would be during a TV show. The other issue is with the device itself. You have to struggle with the positioning of the device and people often have to reposition it frequently which degrades the experience of attending a film. It takes multiple adjustments to get the captions into the proper view that you want. Also, if a Deaf person has to leave the theater to use the restroom and returns back to the film, they have to move it out of the way and then come back to struggle with it again to put in the right position for them. Finally, this technology takes up cup space leaving a Deaf individual to hold the cup during the film or put it between their legs. 

 CaptiView System

The CaptiView works in a similar manner as the Rear View System. The CaptiView system transmits and receives AES-128 encrypted closed captions on a wireless band frequency within a 80 meter signal range. This gives it an advantage over the Rear View system in that it can be used from any seat in the theater which the Rear View system requires the Deaf patron to find a seat that in line with the screen in the back of the theater. The other advantage is that it comes with a privacy visor so it can be positioned directly in front the movie patron with minimal impact or distraction to neighboring patrons. However, the downsides to this technology is the same as it is for the Rear View system.

Sony Entertainment Glasses

Sony created advanced glasses that contains unique holographic technology in which closed captioned text appear on the glasses that appear to be superimposed on to the screen. The glasses have a receiver box that is equipped with an audio assist function, this solution is useful not only for people with hearing difficulties but also for people with visual impairments. The glasses weigh about 3 oz (84 g) and the receiver weighs approx. 3.1 oz (89 g) which means they are about the same size as 3D glasses you would wear at to see a 3D film. Another awesome benefit of this technology is that users can choose from one of six languages that may be offered in the glasses so long as the language is available in the DCP (Digital Cinema Package) format. Viewers simply select the language by manipulating the captioning glasses’ receiver box. You can also select how far or close you want to appear on the glasses and how bright you want the captioning to appear on your glasses. 

The only downside to the Sony Glasses is that they seem to run out of juice pretty quickly. I have to repeatedly go to the box office to get a new pair of glasses while I am watching a film.

I personally find the Sony Entertainment Glasses better than Rear Window Captioning or CaptiView. Some people don't like it because they find the glasses too heavy or that it is too bulky. But I love it. It doesn't occupy your cupholder. You don't have to wrestle with the pole to get the captioning in the right position. If you need to leave the theater to take a phone call in the hallway or use the restroom, it will still provide captioning for the film.

Open Captions

Open Captions is a really simple and durable technology. Text appears on the screen and is embedded in the video presented on the screen. For the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, it is the preferred method of watching movies. It is the gold standard.  It is my preferred way of watching movies at the movie theater. 

The only drawback to open caption movies is that it is not available at any time you show up at the movie theater. With any of the other accessible technologies mentioned in this article, you can walk into a theater at any time to watch the film  so long as the movie theater has Sony Glasses or CaptiViews available for you. If the theater runs out of the Sony Glasses because there are lots of people with hearing loss at the theater, you're out of luck. With open captions, there's no chance of that happening because everyone in the cinema can enjoy the technology at the same time.

Conclusion

The new DOJ rules for movie theaters shouldn't be too burdensome since many movie theaters have been providing customers with hearing loss with technology for awhile now. I think the impact of these new regulations will improve the way movie theaters serve their customers. Movie theaters will be more proactive in training their staff on how to use the technology and that the accessible items will be well maintained and ready upon request.  These regulations may get movie theaters to consider the needs of their deaf or blind customers and to provide them with an enjoyable movie experience.

DOJ Releases Final Rules Requiring Movie Theaters To Be Accessible to Deaf and Blind Patrons

Recently, the Department of Justice released the final rule requiring movie theaters to take the following action:

(1) Public accommodations that own, operate or lease movie theaters have and maintain the equipment necessary to provide closed movie captioning and audio description at a movie patron’s seat whenever showing a digital movie produced, distributed, or otherwise made available. (see §36.303(g)(2)-(6)). In other words, equipment must be available at all showings for the Deaf and Blind patrons of all movie theaters and that they must have a minimum number of fully operational captioning devices and to provide them to patrons upon request.

(2) Public accommodations that own, operate or lease movie theaters must provide notice to the public about the availability of these features to their Deaf and Blind customers.  (see § 36.303(g)(8)).

(3) Public accommodations that own, operate or lease movie theaters must ensure that theater staff is available to assist patrons with the equipment before, during, and after the showing of a movie with these features. (see §36.303(g)(9)). This means that movie theaters must have staff available who are able to operate and respond to problems with all equipment necessary to deliver captioning and audio description and to show patrons how to use the individual devices whenever digital movies with such features are shown.

As an attorney and advocate for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community as well as the former Chairman of Loop Utah, this is excellent news. It has always been a challenge for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community to enjoy films at the local movie theater. This new rule creates a nationwide standard that will be followed throughout the United States.

 Title III of the ADA requires public accommodations to furnish appropriate auxiliary aids and services and to ensure effective communication with people with disabilities. The DOJ considers captioning and audio description devices to be auxiliary aids under the ADA. 

The purpose behind the release of this new regulation is that even though many movie houses worked hard to make their theaters accessible to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing as well as to the Blind, the DOJ was still receiving complaints that neither closed movie captioning nor audio description is universally available at movie theaters across the United States. Even when they do provide it, the devices may not be kept in good shape as to be readily available upon request.

This new rule applies only to certain movie theaters as defined by the rule. The rule defines a movie theater as a “facility, other than a drive-in theater, that is owned, leased by, leased to, or operated by a public accommodation and that contains one or more auditoriums that are used primarily for the purpose of showing movies to the public for a fee.” 

This new regulation will not apply to any movie theater that shows only analog movies in all of its auditoriums nor will it apply to drive-in theaters because the technology to provide closed movie captioning and audio description in such venues allegedly does not yet exist.

It is worth noting that under this new DOJ rule, it allows movie theaters to provide open captioning (i.e., captioning that is shown on the screen and visible to all movie patrons) but it does not require movie theaters to provide open captioning under any circumstances.  Unfortunately, Hearing Loops were not mandated under these new regulations.

Currently, there are four different closed caption technologies for digital cinema systems available on the commercial market. Those technologies are the Rear Window® system; the CaptiView™ system by Doremi Cinema, LLC; Ultra Stereo Labs (USL), Inc.’s closed caption infrared system; and Sony’s Entertainment Access Glasses and Audio Description receivers.

A movie theater must provide a minimum number of fully operational captioning devices in accordance with the following table.

A movie theater must provide a minimum number of fully operational audio description devices in accordance with the following table.

Naturally, movie theaters do not have to comply with the new rule’s requirements if compliance would result in an undue burden or a fundamental alteration.

The DOJ intends to publish the final rule in the Federal Register in the near future, and the rule will take effect 45 days after publication.