Disability Screen Office Welcomes CRTC Decision to Expand Closed Captioning Requirements to Online Streaming Services

The Disability Screen Office (DSO) welcomes the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s decision to expand closed captioning requirements to online streaming services operating in Canada. The new policy marks an important step toward a more accessible and inclusive broadcasting system for Canadians who are Deaf, DeafBlind, hard of hearing, and others who rely on closed captioning to access content.

The decision followed a public consultation process in which the DSO advocated for online streaming services to be brought into a regulatory framework comparable to that already applied to traditional broadcasters. In its submission, the DSO emphasized the importance of high-quality captions, ongoing consultation with disability communities, and ensuring that accessibility standards evolve alongside technological change.

Highlights of the decision include:

• Online streaming services will be subject to the Closed Captioning (CC) policy for all new programming within one year.
• Streamers must include closed captions for all acquired broadcast programming that already includes captions.
• Online catalogues must be 80% captioned within four years and 100% captioned within five years.
• The policy applies to all streaming services with annual revenues exceeding $25 million.
• The one-year implementation timeline acknowledges the challenges associated with finding resources to caption programs that are not delivered with closed captions.
• The five-year phase-in period for online catalogues is intended to prevent overreliance on AI-generated captions, as the Commission acknowledged that the current quality of AI captioning is not yet sufficient. Streaming services will be required to report annually on their progress.
• Streamers must caption the promotional and short-form content they create, though this requirement does not apply to advertisements created by third parties. However, all captioning activity must be reported so the CRTC can monitor industry progress.
• The Commission requires captions to be 100% accurate, defined as: “closed captioning that matches the on-screen dialogue and is correctly spelled; that conveys background noises, music, and other sounds; and that identifies speakers and their manner of speaking, to the fullest extent possible.”
• The Commission also introduced standards for caption placement. Captions must avoid covering action, visual elements, or other information necessary to understand the content, must not overlap or run off-screen, and must remain synchronized with spoken dialogue and sounds. Captions must also appear at a readable speed and run from the beginning to the end of the program to the fullest extent possible.
• While there is no formal accuracy requirement for third-party content, the Commission encourages streaming services to work with third parties to improve caption quality.
• Streamers are encouraged to make captions more customizable and easier to enable or disable.
• The Commission expects, though does not require, streaming services to consult annually with caption users, either individually or collectively. These consultations are intended specifically for closed captioning and are separate from broader accessibility consultations under the Accessible Canada Act (ACA).
• The Commission did not establish a working group to monitor quality and compliance. Instead, it will review annual reports to determine whether further intervention is required.
• The text of the proposed orders has been published, and stakeholders have until June 25 to provide comments.

The DSO congratulates the Commission on its emphasis on caption accuracy and quality standards, and further notes the importance of continued engagement with disability communities as implementation moves forward.