Televisions in an area of public accommodation that have a closed captioning feature must be enabled upon request. However, business owners will not be penalized if the television does not have a closed captioning feature.

The specific law S1650 signed by Governor Cuomo states:

“A place of public accommodation, resort or amusement. . . shall upon request be required to have closed captioning enabled on all televisions that are located in the public area . . . during regular business hours.”

Owners/Managers of public accommodations should train staff on this new requirement to avoid potential exposure to costly lawsuits.