Can all television sets display closed captions?
Printable Version
The Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 required that television sets with screens 13 inches or larger manufactured for sale in the United States must have built-in closed-caption decoder circuitry that allows viewers to display closed captions on their sets. Closed captioning is technology that provides visual text to describe dialogue, background noise, and sound effects in television programming. The deadline for compliance with this act was July 1993.
Last update or review: January 18, 2013
Copyright © 2006 - 2013 by University of Washington.
Permission is granted to copy these materials for educational,
noncommercial purposes provided the source is acknowledged. The AccessComputing Knowledge Base is funded by the National Science
Foundation (CISE BPC award #CNS-0540615, CNS-0837508, and CNS-1042260 ).
Any questions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the federal government. We support the University of Washington's online privacy statement and its terms and conditions of use.
