Notice2025-14098
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection eComments Requested; Revision of a Currently Approved Collection; Requirement That Movie Theaters Provide Notice as to the Availability of Closed Movie Captioning and Audio Description for Digital Movies
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
July 25, 2025
Issuing agencies
Justice Department
Abstract
The Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section (DRS) Department of Justice will be submitting the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 141 (Friday, July 25, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 141 (Friday, July 25, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35316-35318]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-14098]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
[OMB Number 1190-0019]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection
eComments Requested; Revision of a Currently Approved Collection;
Requirement That Movie Theaters Provide Notice as to the Availability
of Closed Movie Captioning and Audio Description for Digital Movies
AGENCY: Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice.
ACTION: 60-Day notice.
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SUMMARY: The Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section (DRS)
Department of Justice will be submitting the following information
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted for 60 days until
September 23, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have additional comments
especially on the estimated public burden or associated response time,
suggestions, or need a copy of the proposed information collection
instrument with instructions or additional information, please contact:
Roberta Kirkendall, Special Litigation Counsel, Disability Rights
Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, by mail at
4CON, 950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC, 20530; send an email to
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b7f3e5e499e7e5f6f7c2c4d3d8dd99d0d8c1"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3e7a6c6d106e6c7f7e4b4d5a515410595148">[email protected]</span></a>; or call (800) 514-0301 (voice) or (800) 514-0383
(TTY) (the Division's Information Line). Written comments and/or
suggestions can also be sent to the Office of Management and Budget,
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention Department of
Justice Desk Officer, Washington, DC 20503 or sent to
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3976706b78664a4c5b54504a4a5056574a7956545b175c5649175e564f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0a4543584b55797f6867637979636564794a656768246f657a246d657c">[email protected]</span></a>. Include the title of this proposed
collection: ``Requirement that Movie Theaters Provide Notice as to the
Availability of Closed Movie Captioning and Audio Description for
Digital Movies,'' in the subject line of all written comments. You may
obtain copies of this notice in an alternative format by calling the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Information Line at (800) 514-
0301 (voice) or (800) 514-0383 (TTY).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Written comments and suggestions from the
public and affected agencies concerning the proposed collection of
information are encouraged. Your comments should address one or more of
the following four points:
--Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the functions of the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, including whether the information will have practical
utility;
--Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
--Evaluate whether and if so how the quality, utility, and clarity of
the
[[Page 35317]]
information to be collected can be enhanced; and
--Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are
to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submission of responses.
Abstract:
The Disability Rights Section (DRS), Civil Rights Division,
Department of Justice is seeking to extend its information collection
arising from a regulatory provision that requires covered movie
theaters to disclose information to the public regarding the
availability of closed movie captioning and audio description for
movies exhibited in a digital format (digital movies) shown in their
auditoriums.
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), at 42
U.S.C. 12182, prohibits public accommodations from discriminating
against individuals with disabilities. The existing ADA title III
regulation, at 28 CFR 36.303(a)-(g), requires covered entities to
ensure effective communication with individuals with disabilities. The
title III regulation clarifies that movie theaters that provide
captioning or audio description for digital movies must ensure ``that
all notices of movie showings and times at the box office and other
ticketing locations, on websites and mobile apps, in newspapers, and
over the telephone, inform potential patrons of the movies or showings
that are available with captioning and audio description.'' 28 CFR
36.303(g)(8). This requirement does not apply to any third-party
providers of films, unless they are part of or subject to the control
of the public accommodation. Id. Movie theaters' disclosure of this
information will enable individuals with hearing and vision
disabilities to readily find out where and when they can have access to
digital movies with these features.
Overview of This Information Collection
1. Type of Information Collection: Revision of Currently Approved
Collection.
2. The Title of the Form/Collection: Requirement that Movie
Theaters Provide Notice as to the Availability of Closed Movie
Captioning and Audio Description for Digital Movies.
3. The agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of
the Department sponsoring the collection: Sponsor: The applicable
component within the Department of Justice is the Civil Rights
Division.
4. Affected public who will be asked or required to respond, as
well as the obligation to respond: Affected Public (Primary) Private
Sector-for or not for profit institutions, Federal Government.
Specifically, businesses and not-for-profit institutions that own,
operate, or lease a movie theater that has one or more auditoriums
showing digital movies with closed movie captioning and audio
description, and that provide notice of digital movie showings and
times. Under the relevant regulation, ``movie theater'' means a
facility other than a drive-in theater that is used primarily for the
purpose of showing movies to the public for a fee.
Legal Obligation to Respond: Mandatory.
This information collection is required to comply with statutory
and regulatory obligations under title III. Under 42 U.S.C.
12182(b)(2)(A)(iii), public accommodations must take steps to ensure
that individuals with disabilities are not denied services because of
the absence of auxiliary aids and services, unless doing so would
result in an undue burden or fundamental alteration. Pursuant to 42
U.S.C. 12186(b), the Attorney General is authorized to issue
regulations to carry out title III. The Department's implementing
regulation at 28 CFR 36.303(g)(8) requires covered movie theaters to
provide information to the public about the availability of closed
movie captioning and audio description for digital movies. This public
disclosure obligation is the basis for this Information Collection
Request (ICR).
5. An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount of
time estimated for an average respondent to respond:
The Department's initial PRA request for this collection relied on
U.S. Census Bureau data from 2012 and estimated that there was a total
of 1,876 firms owning one or more movie theaters in the United States
that were potentially subject to this disclosure. See 81 FR 37643 (June
10, 2016). The most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, from 2022,
estimated that there was a total of 1,813 firms owning one or more
movie theaters. See U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 SUSB Annual Data Tables by
Establishment Industry, Data by Enterprise Employment Size, U.S., 6-
digit NAICS (512131). As the vast majority of U.S. movie theaters now
show digital movies, which typically allow for closed captioning and
audio description, to the extent that each of these movie theater firms
that shows digital movies provides notices of movie showings and times
to the public about those films, they must provide information
concerning the availability of closed movie captioning and audio
description in their communications.
An estimate of the total annual burden (in hours) associated with
the collection: 8.7 hours per year.
The Department acknowledges that the amount of time it will take a
respondent to comply with this requirement may vary depending on the
number of digital movies that the respondent is showing at any given
time. Based on information gathered during the initial rulemaking
process, the Department estimates that respondents will take an average
of up to 10 minutes each week to update existing notices of digital
movie showings and times with closed captioning and audio description
information. Therefore, the Department estimates that each firm owning
one or more theaters offering digital movies with closed captioning or
audio description will spend approximately ((10 minutes/week x 52
weeks/year) / 60 minutes/hour) 8.7 hours each year to comply with this
requirement.
The Department anticipates that firms owning one or more movie
theaters will likely update their existing listings of digital movie
showings and times to include information concerning the availability
of closed movie captioning and audio description on a regular basis.
The Department's research suggests that this information would only
need to be updated whenever a new digital movie with these features is
added to the schedule. This will vary as some digital movies stay on
the schedule for longer periods of time than others, but the Department
estimates that respondent firms will update their listings to include
this information weekly. In the future, if all movies are distributed
with these accessibility features, specific notice on a movie-by-movie
basis may no longer be necessary and firms owning movie theaters may
only need to advise the public that they provide closed captioning and
audio description for all of their digital movies.
An estimate of the total annual cost burden associated with the
collection, if applicable:
The estimated public burden associated with this collection is
15,713 hours. The Department estimates that respondents will take an
average of 10 minutes each week to update their existing listings of
digital movie showings and times with the required information about
closed captions and audio description. If each respondent spends 10
minutes each week to update its notices of digital moving showings
[[Page 35318]]
and times to include this information, the average movie theater firm
will spend 8.7 hours annually ((10 minutes/week x 52 weeks/year) / 60
minutes/hour) complying with this requirement.
The Department expects that the annual public burden hours for
disclosing this information will total (1,813 respondents x 8.7 hours/
year) 15,713 hours.
Yearly costs to industry are estimated to be $0, as updates to
communications and advertisements listing digital movie showings and
times are normal tasks performed by movie theater personnel and any
additional work related to this public disclosure requirement is
minimal (e.g., adding symbols to indicate the availability of closed
movie captioning and audio description next to a digital movie title).
Total Burden Hours
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Time per
Activity Number of Frequency Total annual response Total annual
respondents (annually) responses (min) burden (hours)
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Weekly update of movie listings with 1,813 52 94,276 10 15,713
closed captioning/audio description
available...........................
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Totals........................... 1,813 52 94,276 10 15,713
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If additional information is required contact: Darwin Arceo,
Department Clearance Officer, United States Department of Justice,
Justice Management Division, Service Engineering and Investment
Oversight, Two Constitution Square, 145 N Street NE, 4W-218,
Washington, DC.
Dated: July 23, 2025.
Darwin Arceo,
Department Clearance Officer for PRA, U.S. Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 2025-14098 Filed 7-24-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-13-P
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