Title 47, Telegraphs, Telephones, and RadiotelegraphsRelease 119-102
§611 Closed-captioning of Public Service Announcements
Title 47 › CHAPTER 5 — WIRE OR RADIO COMMUNICATION › SUBCHAPTER VI — MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS › § 611
Summary
Any TV public service announcement the federal government makes or pays for must have closed captions for its spoken words; TV stations don't have to add captions themselves and aren't responsible for airing uncapped spots unless they intentionally remove captions that were provided.
Full Legal Text
Title 47, §611
Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radiotelegraphs, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Any television public service announcement that is produced or funded in whole or in part by any agency or instrumentality of Federal Government shall include closed captioning of the verbal content of such announcement. A television broadcast station licensee—
(1)shall not be required to supply closed captioning for any such announcement that fails to include it; and
(2)shall not be liable for broadcasting any such announcement without transmitting a closed caption unless the licensee intentionally fails to transmit the closed caption that was included with the announcement.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1990—Pub. L. 101–336 amended section generally, substituting provisions relating to closed-captioning of public service announcements for provisions relating to establishment, functions, composition, etc., of Telecommunications Policy Study Commission.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
Section effective 60 days after Oct. 30, 1984, except where otherwise expressly provided, see section 9(a) of Pub. L. 98–549, set out as a note under section 521 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
47 U.S.C. § 611
Title 47, Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radiotelegraphs
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102