NEWS
                                                           October 12, 1995
      FCC Announces Closed-Captioning of All Commission Open Meetings

     As part of an ongoing effort to make telecommunications accessible to people with
disabilities, the FCC today announced that all of its open meetings will be closed-captioned.

     FCC Chairman Reed Hundt stated, "It is important that the Commission not only develop
policies that ensure that communications serves all Americans, including those with disabilities,
but that we follow our own policy advice, by making our public meetings available to the
segment of the public that is hearing-disabled."

     In March Chairman Hundt appointed a Disabilities Issues Task Force with representatives
from every FCC office and bureau to ensure that the interests of people with disabilities are
represented and understood at the Commission and in the industries it regulates. In June the
Chairman unveiled a "top ten" list of goals for making accessibility to telecommunications a
reality. Closed-captioning of Commission open meetings will help achieve one of these important
goals.

     Prior to today's announcement Commission meetings were closed-captioned only when
a matter of particular concern to people with hearing disabilities was discussed.

     For further information, contact Rochelle Cohen at (202) 418-0500 (voice) or (202) 418-
2555 (TT).

                                  - FCC -