FCC caption display settings, August 2026: burned-in captions

Does the FCC caption display settings rule apply to burned-in captions? The rule, as the FCC's page and secondary summaries in the search results (read 2026-10-04) describe it, requires manufacturers of covered apparatus and multichannel video programming distributors to make closed captioning display settings readily accessible. Compliance with that requirement was due by August 17, 2026. It is about the settings a viewer can change for closed captions on devices such as TVs, set-top boxes, computers, phones and tablets.

Burned-in captions, also called open captions, are part of the picture. A viewer's caption settings do not restyle them, because they are pixels in the video. That makes them predictable, and it is why teams use them for social video. I am not giving legal advice, and whether a particular product is covered is a question for counsel.

What the FCC page says

Start with the FCC's announcement of the effective date. The summaries I read named four factors the FCC will use to judge readily accessible: proximity, discoverability, previewability, and consistency and persistence. I did not verify the full rule text, so read it before you rely on any detail.

Burned-in vs closed, in one table

Burn captions with one call

POST /v1/video-captions takes a public HTTPS video_url and returns a job-backed captioned video. Without script_text, speech-to-text supplies the words. A silent clip fails as caption_no_speech, and the docs point to cues for authored overlay copy.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/video-captions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: fcc-burned-in-001" \
  -d '{"video_url":"https://media.sume.com/artifacts/example/clean.mp4","style":"black-outline"}'

What to decide first

If your video goes to broadcast or a regulated distributor, ask them which caption format they require, since they may need a separate caption track, which this endpoint does not produce. If it is social video, burned-in captions are the usual choice.