December 8, 2016

RULES AND REGULATIONS IMPLEMENTING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10905 ENTITLED, "AN ACT REQUIRING ALL FRANCHISE HOLDERS OR OPERATORS OF TELEVISION PROGRAMS TO BROADCAST OR PRESENT THEIR PROGRAMS WITH CLOSED CAPTIONS OPTION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES"

Pursuant to Section 5 of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 10905 entitled, "An Act Requiring All Franchise Holders or Operators of Television Stations and Producers of Television Programs to Broadcast or Present their Programs with Closed Captions Option, and for Other Purposes," the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) hereby promulgates the following Rules and Regulations: HTcADC

RULE I

General Provisions

SECTION 1. Short Title. — These Rules shall be known as the "Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 10905," or "Closed Captioning Rules and Regulations."

SECTION 2. Purpose. — These Rules are promulgated to prescribe, carry out, administer, and enforce the procedures and guidelines for the implementation of R.A. No. 10905 and achieve the objectives thereof.

SECTION 3. Declaration of Policy. — Closed captioning shall be guided by the principle that the deaf and hard of hearing are significant members of Philippine society, and the State shall always promote and ensure their well-being and integration into mainstream society.

SECTION 4. Definition of Terms. — For purposes of these Rules, the following terms are defined thus:

(a) Closed caption means a method of subtitling television programs by coding statements as vertical data signals that are decoded at the receiver and generally superimposed at the bottom of the television screen.

(b) Economically burdensome means a condition which results in significant difficulty or expense to implement closed captioning, to be determined by the following factors:

(i) nature and cost of the closed captions for programming;

(ii) impact on the operation of the provider or producer;

(iii) financial resources of the provider or producer; and

(iv) type of operations of the provider or producer.

(c) Newscast or news programs refer only to reports of happenings of recent occurrence of a varied character, covering political, social, moral, religious and other subjects, intended for the information of the general public. It shall also refer to straight news reporting, but shall not include any impromptu, off-script, or spontaneous news analyses, editorials, commentaries and/or opinions made during a news telecast.

(d) Board refers to the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).

(e) The deaf are those who are wholly deprived of the sense of hearing.

(f) The hard of hearing are those who have a mild-to-moderate hearing loss.

(g) Video programming refers to programming provided by a television broadcast station that includes advertisements of more than ten (10) minutes in duration.

(h) Non-exempt programming refers to video programming that is not exempt under Rule II, Section 2 hereof and, accordingly, is subject to closed captioning requirements set forth herein. CAIHTE

RULE II

Scope of Application

SECTION 1. Scope. — These Rules shall apply to all franchise holders or operators of television stations and producers of television programs required to provide closed captions in the broadcast of their programs including newscasts, news programs, news analyses, editorials, commentaries, opinions, pre-scripted programs and emergency public service announcements.

SECTION 2. Exclusions. — These Rules shall not apply in any of the following.

(a) Public service announcements that are shorter than ten (10) minutes, such as:

(i) interstitial material or materials that are generally defined as wrap-around segments that are often shown in between or after the television programming (e.g., bloopers, teasers of upcoming episodes, cast interviews after movies on premium channels, etc.);

(ii) promotional announcements and materials (e.g., television advertisements, commercials, etc.);

(iii) non-emergency public service announcements;

(b) Programs shown in the early morning hours from 1:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.;

(c) Programs that are primarily textual in nature such as video programming or portions of video programming for which the content of the program is displayed visually through text or graphics (e.g., program schedule channels or community bulletin boards);

(d) When compliance would be economically burdensome under any of the following cases, as determined by the Board:

(i) Programs in the nature of breaking news and unscheduled events, such as live breaking news or on-the-spot field reports with the absence of a pre-script;

(ii) Live broadcast of public affairs, sports and entertainment programs and their respective replays or reruns shown within the same day from the original airing date; provided that, subsequent replays or reruns after twenty-four (24) hours from the original airing date are closed captioned;

(iii) Spontaneous or unscripted comments of anchors, hosts or reporters;

(iv) Same day replay of live events, speeches, congressional or similar hearings by a governmental body or agency;

(v) Taped-as-live programs aired within twenty-four (24) hours from the date of recording;

(vi) When the gross annual revenue of the franchise holder operating a television network is less than one billion pesos (Php1,000,000,000.00); provided that, any such determination by the Board shall be subject to review every five (5) years or such lesser period as determined by the Board for compelling reason/s, and particularly taking into account the determinant factors under Section 2 (b), R.A. No. 10905, reckoned from the date of exemption; provided further that, the abovementioned amount of gross annual revenue shall be prima facie in character, and shall be without prejudice to the consideration by the Board of such other relevant factors consistent with Section 4 (b), Rule I hereof; and

(vii) Such other analogous or similar circumstances consistent with Section 4 (b), Rule I hereof.

SECTION 3. Determinant Factors for "Economically Burdensome" Category. — All the above notwithstanding, and taking into account as a whole the operation and resources of the applicant seeking exemption, the Board shall always be guided by the factors listed under Section 2 (b), R.A. No. 10905 in determining any significant difficulty or expense in implementing closed captioning. DETACa

RULE III

Rules for Closed Captioning

SECTION 1. Rules for Television Closed Captioning. — All television programs with closed captions option shall ensure that viewers who are deaf and hard of hearing shall have full access to local programming, addressing captioning quality. These captions shall be:

(a) Accurate: Captions must match the spoken words in the dialogue and convey background noises and other sounds to the fullest extent possible;

(b) Synchronous: Captions must coincide with their corresponding spoken words and sounds to the greatest extent possible and must be displayed on the screen at a speed that can be read by viewers;

(c) Complete: Captions must run from the beginning to the end of the program to the fullest extent possible; and

(d) Properly placed: Captions should not block other important visual content on the screen, overlap one another or run off the edge of the video screen.

SECTION 2. Television Closed Captioning Protocol. — All franchise holders or operators of television stations and producers of television programs required to air with closed captions option shall follow such closed captioning protocol as may be determined by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), without prejudice to such other requirements as may hereafter be determined by law.

SECTION 3. Submission of List of Programs. — All entities required by law to provide closed captioning shall each submit a list of programs covered and/or exempted from closed captioning, stating the reasons therefor, within sixty (60) days from the effectivity of these Rules. Thereafter, said entities shall submit to the Board a written report of any change in the list of programs covered and/or exempted from closed captioning, no later than fifteen (15) days from the effectivity of any such change.

SECTION 4. Application for Exemption. — Entities falling under "economically burdensome" category shall apply for exemption with the Board within sixty (60) days from the effectivity of these Rules, providing the following required information and documentation:

(a) Title of the programs for which exemptions are requested

 Franchise holders or operators of television stations and producers of television programs shall provide the specific name of each program for which they request for an exemption. Applications for an exemption covering an entire channel of video programming shall identify the channel for which the exemption is requested;

(b) Financial resources of the operators/producers of television programs

 Franchise holders or operators of television stations and producers of television programs shall provide true information about their financial resources and standing by means of their duly audited financial statements submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the preceding year;

(c) Impact of captioning on programming activities

 Franchise holders or operators of television stations and producers of television programs shall explain in detail the impact that having to provide closed captioning will have on its respective programming activities;

(d) Nature and cost of closed captioning for their programming

 Franchise holders or operators of television stations and producers of television programs shall provide information about their costs associated with closed captioning of each specific program for which they are requesting an exemption, and their efforts to find companies that can provide captioning at a reasonable cost; and

(e) Affidavit or Sworn Declaration

 The application for exemption shall include a signed and sworn affidavit or declaration attesting to the truthfulness and accuracy of all the information and representations contained in the submission, and of such other authentic documents that may be required by the Board.

SECTION 5. Effectivity of Exemption. — The Certificate of Exemption issued by the Board shall be effective for one (1) year, and renewable every year.

SECTION 6. Monitoring Compliance. — All entities required by law to present their programs with closed captions shall establish a monitoring system to ensure that closed captioning is included in the broadcast signal and that captioning reaches the viewer in its original form. Minimal closed captioning errors that do not greatly affect accuracy, synchronization, completeness, and placement standards shall be evaluated by the Board for purposes of determining compliance with the Closed Captioning Law on a case-to-case basis, with due regard to reason and degree of discrepancy in closed captions.

Franchise holders or operators of television stations and producers of television programs shall monitor and report on closed captioning as follows:

(a) describe mechanisms and procedures they have developed to ensure the quality of closed captioning, including procedures to ensure that closed captioning is present throughout entire programs; aDSIHc

(b) calculate the captioning accuracy rate for two programs every month; and

(c) provide the Board with a written report at least every two years, describing efforts to ensure the quality and consistency of closed captioning in their programs, as well as measures to improve accuracy rates, consistent with items (a) and (b), just mentioned, without prejudice to such periodic reports that may be required by the Board from time to time.

RULE IV

Requirements of Program Content Broadcast with Closed Captions Option

SECTION 1. Obligation to Maintain Equipment and Monitor for Captions. —

(a) Franchise holders or operators of television stations and producers of television programs shall deliver all programming containing closed captioning to receiving television households with the original closed captioning data intact in a format that can be recovered and displayed by decoders meeting the protocol/s under Section 2, Rule III hereof.

(b) Franchise holders or operators of television stations and producers of television programs shall take the necessary steps to monitor and maintain their equipment and signal transmissions associated with the transmission and distribution of closed captioning to ensure that the captioning included in the programming reaches the consumer intact. In any loss of captioning on non-exempt programs involving equipment failure, the Board shall require all non-exempt franchise holders or operators of television stations and producers of television programs to demonstrate that they have monitored their equipment and signal transmissions, have performed technical equipment checks, and have promptly undertaken repairs as needed to ensure that equipment will be operational and in good working order. Such non-exempt entity shall also inform the Board the timetable for the resumption of closed captioning.

(c) All franchise holders or operators of television stations and producers of television programs shall maintain records of monitoring and maintenance activities, which shall include, without limitation, information about monitoring and maintenance of equipment and signal transmissions to ensure pass through and delivery of closed captioning to viewers, and technical equipment checks and other activities to ensure that captioning equipment and other related equipment are maintained in good working order. These entities shall maintain such records for a minimum of two years, and shall submit true copies of these records to the Board when periodically required to do so.

RULE V

Responsibility for and Determination of Compliance

SECTION 1. Responsibility for, and Determination of, Compliance. —

(a) Compliance shall be calculated on a per channel, calendar quarter basis;

(b) Open captioning or subtitles in the language of the target audience may be used in lieu of closed captioning; and

(c) In evaluating whether franchise holders or operators of television stations and producers of television programs have complied with the requirement that all new non-exempt video programming must include closed captioning, the Board may consider showings that any lack of captioning was minimal and reasonable under the circumstances.

SECTION 2. Timeline for Compliance. — All non-exempt entities must comply with the following stages of implementation:

(a) For the initial year from effectivity of these Rules. All non-exempt entities can include closed captioning services for some of its programs, on a trial and non-regular basis;

(b) Second year. Non-exempt entities shall incorporate closed caption services on at least ten percent (10%) of its non-exempt programs;

(c) Third year. Non-exempt entities shall incorporate closed caption services on at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its non-exempt programs;

(d) Fourth year. Non-exempt entities shall incorporate closed caption services on at least fifty percent (50%) of its non-exempt programs;

(e) Fifth year. Full compliance on the closed captioning service of all non-exempt programs. ETHIDa

SECTION 3. Implementation of Penalties. — The penalties under R.A. No. 10905 and these Rules shall be strictly imposed on entities that have not fully complied with the closed captioning service after the lapse of the above timeline, without prejudice to any intervention by the Board to effect remedial measures, including but not limited to warning systems and enabling initiatives.

RULE VI

Hearing and Adjudication

SECTION 1. Hearing and Adjudication. — The Board, through its Hearing and Adjudication Committee, shall hear any administrative complaint for the violation of R.A. 10905 and these Rules, as well as for any related issuances that may hereafter be promulgated.

SECTION 2. Hearing Rules before the Board. — In hearings before the Board, appropriate flexibility and liberality shall be observed, and the Rules of Courts may have suppletory application.

SECTION 3. Decisions of the Board. — The Board shall decide the case within thirty (30) days following the last submission that it may require, or upon the expiration of the period given. Such decision shall be in writing and shall present its basis clearly and distinctly.

SECTION 4. Motion for Reconsideration. — Within fifteen (15) days from receipt of the decision, an adversely affected party may move for reconsideration upon the grounds that the penalties imposed are excessive, or that the evidence on record is insufficient to justify the decision, or that new evidence has been discovered which materially affects the decision rendered. The filing of a motion for reconsideration shall not stay the immediate execution of the decision. No motion for extension of time to file motion for reconsideration shall be entertained.

SECTION 5. Appeal. — A party adversely affected by the decision of the Board may appeal to the Office of the President of the Philippines within fifteen (15) days after notice to the said party of the judgment or final order appealed from.

SECTION 6. Finality of Decision of the Board. — Decisions of the Board shall become final and executory after the lapse of the fifteen (15)-day period for appeal without any appeal having been perfected.

RULE VII

Penalties and Final Provisions

SECTION 1. Administrative Penalties. — Without prejudice to the institution by the Board of appropriate criminal actions in court pursuant to Section 4, R.A. No. 10905, any violation of said law, these Rules and such other related issuances of the Board shall be administratively penalized with suspension or cancellation of the program's permit to exhibit and/or certificate of registration issued by the Board and/or imposition of a fine of not less than thirty thousand pesos (Php30,000.00) but not more than seventy five thousand pesos (Php75,000.00), at the discretion of the Board.

SECTION 2. Repealing Clause. — All orders, circulars, memoranda, rules or regulations, other issuances or parts thereof inconsistent with these Rules are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

SECTION 3. Separability Clause. — If any provision of these Rules is declared invalid, other parts or provisions hereof not affected thereby shall remain and continue to be in full force and effect.

SECTION 4. Effectivity. — These Rules shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its full and complete publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

DONE in Quezon City, Metro Manila this 8th day of December, 2016.