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How to File a Complaint About Television Closed Captions
HLAA Communications
/
August 6, 2026
Closed captions display the audio portion of a television program as text on the screen, including dialogue and important sounds. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires these closed captions to be:
- Accurate: The words displayed in the captions must match what is being said. They must also provide text to represent other sounds important to the context of the scene.
- Synchronous: Close captions should appear at the same time as the corresponding words and sounds.
- Complete: The entire program must include closed captions.
- Properly placed: The captions should not block important visual information on the screen.
Sometimes, captions don’t meet these standards. If you experience problems such as missing or inaccurate captions, captions that are out of sync or captions that block important information, you should report the problem to the programming distributor. You may also file a complaint with the FCC.
We know that filing a report may not feel very exciting or important. But in the same way that a pothole won’t be fixed until someone reports it, accessibility services can’t improve unless problems are documented. It’s a small but important step in helping everyone contribute to better results.
Report TV Captioning Issues
- File an accessibility complaint with the FCC:
Accessibility Complaint Filing Categories - Learn more about FCC accessibility rules and resources:
fcc.gov/accessibility
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