Deaf viewers left out of TV’s revolution
Don Day June 17th, 2007
Since ABC made the landmark decision to put many of its shows on iTunes - there’s been a mad rush to put traditional TV content online. But there’s one group that’s still pretty much tied to their TV set: the deaf and hard of hearing. Most of that video content makes it to the web without captions. TVWeek says it really isn’t a cost issue - at about $200 per program. TVWeek asked several major players about captioning plans - CBS, ABC, Apple and The CW had no comment or no plans. Fox says it is working on it - and NBC said its new player, set to debut this fall will have captions. PBS already offers captions on many of its shows.
4 Comments Add your own
1. Charles | June 17th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
I’m not deaf or hearing-impaired and I LOVE closed captioning. Not only does it help exercise the mind a little more so you don’t completely glaze over, it also helps to re-inforce the story. And, if you are fortunate, there will be scenes deleted at the last minute, so you get MORE dialogue in CC than is on-screen. (It is also essential when characters are whispering, talking soft. See also: Jay Leno.)
2. Marc | June 18th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Divx files allow captioning, you can synch the movie/program/whatever with a .srt file including the captions. So… TV stations, please start offering divx files and the extra .srt file for captions.
3. Anonymous | June 18th, 2007 at 1:30 am
Marc, captions are supported by Windows Media, Real Media and Quicktime, and it’s pretty simple to display captions on Flash video as well.
4. JoeMo | June 18th, 2007 at 6:29 am
Technically speaking it is not that difficult to implement CC data into a player or on a page it is just that not many people do it. A good example of this would be Kare 11’s new show, Kare OnLive displays CC data while live streaming and also for on demand content. This is good for everyone, not just those who have hearing impairments; good for people who are at work or some where else were sound cannot be on such as a library.
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