Closed Captioning Requirements
When it comes to closed captioning quantity, the CRTC requires most broadcasters to:
- Caption 100% of their programs broadcast from 6 AM to midnight
- Ensure that 100% of advertising, sponsorship messages, and promotional content is captioned
- Provide viewers with closed captioning for all programming aired overnight (from midnight to 6 AM) if captions are available
The CRTC also has standards for closed captioning accuracy. For prerecorded programs, broadcasters must target a captioning accuracy rate of 100%. For live programming, French captions must target an accuracy rate of 85% compared to a verbatim transcript. For English-language live captioning, broadcasters must reach an accuracy rate of at least 98, as measured by the method described in the Canadian NER Evaluation Guidelines.
CRTC policies also address:
- Minimizing caption lag time for prerecorded and live programming
- Correcting errors before re-broadcasting a program
- Providing proper placement of captions to avoid blocking on-screen information
- Controlling various aspects of formatting, including the use of chevrons and, for French-language programming, hyphens
- Ensuring the captioning of emergency alerts