Colorado PEG stations: funding live captioning and video accessibility with PEG fees
County and municipal PEG access channels sit at the center of public meeting video in Colorado. You simulcast council and board sessions to cable, your website, and YouTube. Cities and school districts ask your station for guidance on accessible broadcasts. And when budget season arrives, directors need a defensible story for how live captioning, archived captions, and audio descriptions get funded.
This guide is written for Colorado PEG and access channel directors, franchise administrators, and AV staff evaluating captioning vendors. It covers the legal landscape, how PEG funding may apply, and a practical procurement workflow that starts with measuring your gap before you commit.
Who this guide is for
- County or municipal PEG access channels and government television operations
- Station directors responsible for simulcast workflows (cable headend plus web and social)
- Franchise administrators advising cities and counties on PEG fee use
- AV engineers wiring RTMP feeds from council chamber encoders
If you operate outside Colorado, see our Live TV and PEG broadcast solutions page for national guidance.
Colorado law: enforcement is active today
Colorado HB21-1110 (2021) and SB23-244 (2023), codified at C.R.S. §24-34-802(1)(c), require public entities to comply with technology accessibility standards. Those standards incorporate WCAG 2.1 Levels A and AA, which cover video, captions, transcripts, and related time-based media.
A statutory grace period under HB24-1454 expired on July 1, 2025. Individuals with disabilities may bring civil actions for compliance orders, monetary damages, or statutory remedies including a $3,500 fine per plaintiff under applicable Colorado law.
Federal ADA Title II web accessibility deadlines (April 2027 for jurisdictions serving 50,000 or more residents, April 2028 for smaller entities) remain relevant for long-range budget planning. Colorado stations should treat state law as the nearer-term driver.
FCC rules vs Colorado public-entity law
PEG cable channels are largely exempt from FCC broadcaster caption license thresholds. Cable operators hold the license; your access channel is not the FCC-regulated broadcaster in that sense.
The compliance hook that matters for most Colorado stations:
Your broadcast feed may be exempt. Your web simulcast is not.
When the same meeting is published on your station website, YouTube, or social media, Colorado public-entity accessibility requirements apply. Directors can defend budget requests with a simple narrative: itemize uncaptioned live streams and archives, estimate remediation cost, and map expenses to available funding buckets.
How PEG funding works in Colorado
PEG (Public, Educational, and Government) fees are collected from cable subscribers through franchise agreements between your city or county and cable operators. Those fees support access channels and related infrastructure.
Capital vs operating expenses
Franchise language varies, but directors consistently face the same question:
| Expense type | Typical examples | PEG eligibility |
|---|---|---|
| Capital (CapEx) | Encoder, switcher, audio processor, chamber AV upgrade | Often permitted where franchise restricts PEG to equipment |
| Operating (OpEx) | Ongoing captioning subscription, CART services, archive remediation | May be restricted; confirm with franchise administrator |
Council chamber AV upgrades that enable a reliable RTMP audio feed for live captioning may qualify as capital in some franchises. Captioning service subscriptions are typically operating expenses. A common pattern: upgrade the pipe once (CapEx), run captioning as a service (OpEx).
Recap does not supply caption encoder hardware. Live captioning uses a dedicated RTMP stream from the encoder you already operate. That software-only model avoids a separate hardware line item that competitors such as Cablecast or MediaScribe sometimes bundle or rent.
ADA compliance as a budget line
Even where PEG OpEx is restricted, accessibility remediation for public web content may be budgeted as a general ADA compliance obligation for your public entity. Several Colorado institutions have used statutory deadlines to justify spending that was deferred in prior fiscal cycles.
Important: PEG funding is not guaranteed for every captioning expense. Always confirm permitted uses with your city or county franchise administrator and counsel before encumbering PEG balances.
Audit-first procurement workflow
The most effective conversations we see start with data, not a vendor pitch.
Step 1: Measure your gap
Run an automated audit of your live streams and video-on-demand library. Recap's video library audit scans public channels and identifies:
- Uncaptioned or auto-caption-only live streams
- Archived meetings missing accurate captions
- Content lacking audio descriptions where visual information matters
For YouTube-heavy operations, our YouTube caption compliance study provides a complementary view.
Step 2: Itemize remediation cost
Translate gaps into line items:
- Live captioning for council and board simulcasts (AI, AI with human editing, or CART tiers)
- VOD caption refresh for archives published to web and social
- Audio descriptions for planning sessions and presentations with slides or maps
- Engineering time to wire RTMP feeds (often bundled in onboarding)
Step 3: Map costs to funding buckets
Present your franchise administrator or budget office with a table:
- PEG CapEx: chamber encoder or audio-path upgrades enabling RTMP ingest
- PEG OpEx: where franchise language allows ongoing captioning service
- General fund / ADA compliance: web and simulcast accessibility for public entity obligations
Vendor evaluation every 3 to 5 years
Station directors report a fiscal responsibility to re-evaluate captioning vendors on a regular cycle. That is good stewardship, not disloyalty to incumbents.
When comparing quotes, look beyond the per-hour caption rate:
| Factor | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Hardware | Does the quote include caption encoder purchase, license, or rental? |
| Simulcast | Can one live caption feed serve cable-adjacent web outputs and YouTube? |
| Archives | Does the same vendor handle VOD remediation and searchable transcripts? |
| Setup | Who wires the RTMP feed, and is engineering included? |
Recap offers software-only live captioning over RTMP, VOD captions and transcripts, and audio descriptions on one platform. Request a side-by-side quote and optional pilot on one council simulcast before your next contract renewal.
What Recap provides
- Live captioning via dedicated RTMP audio from your existing chamber encoder (details)
- VOD captions and searchable transcripts for archives on your website or YouTube
- Audio descriptions in standard and extended lengths
- Broadcast exports including SCC where your workflow requires CEA-608 or CEA-708 deliverables (supported formats)
- Onboarding support from engineers who document RTMP setup for your AV stack (training and support)
Recap also supports cities and school districts you simulcast for through local government solutions and City Transcripts.
Next steps for Colorado directors
- Request a video audit to quantify live and VOD gaps
- Read the Colorado PEG landing page for a scannable compliance summary
- Book a demo with your AV engineer to walk through RTMP setup and caption tiers
Share this guide with your franchise administrator when preparing FY budget materials. Confirm PEG fund eligibility and legal interpretation with your entity's counsel before purchase.