It is just a proposed set of rules, but years after the drama of public hearings and the settling of lawsuits and the installation of thousands of pieces of equipment for the deaf, hard of hearing, blind or those with low vision, the ADA has finally said they are ready to set the rules.
Questions and Answers about the Department of Justice’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Under Title II
Here is a…perhaps the…takeaway sections of the FAQ that the DoJ put out.
4.) Under what circumstances does the rule propose to require movie theaters to provide closed captioning and audio description?
The proposed rule does not interfere with a theater owner’s choices as to which movies to exhibit. Whenever a theater intends to exhibit a movie that is available with captions and audio description, then the proposed rule would require the theater to acquire and then exhibit that movie with captions and audio description at all scheduled screenings, unless doing so would result in an undue burden or fundamental alteration. If a particular movie is not produced with captions or audio description, then the proposed rule would still allow a theater to exhibit that movie. The rule does not require movie theaters to add captions or audio description to movies that are not otherwise produced or distributed with these features.
For background on this long involved process, following are links to articles in this journal very particularly on the DoJ topic. (Yes, I clicked on the Search button above and come up with these.)
Questions from DoJ Request for Comment; Movie Captioning, etc.
Transcript DoJ hearing 16 Dec, 2010 Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemakings-Wash
NATO | HoH Representatives in Chicago DoJ Hearing.pdf
NATO Verbal Testimony to DoJ Chicago Hearing | 18 Nov 2010
San Francisco | DoJ Hearings | Highlighted Cinema-centric comments
DoJ Transcripts: Official Submissions
There are more if you hit search above.