A Captioning Bill That Has Got To Pass
Keep an eye on the progress of this bill as reported by Jared Evans. We need it as history is repeating itself. It took legislation to compel adequately accessible regular television, and it is going to take legislation again to compel adequately accessible television on the internet. The technology is available, but companies don't seem to be in any hurry to provide full access.
Even if the bill passes, it may also take some advocacy activity to persuade companies to caption sooner rather than later. That is because legislation of this type usually phases in compliance requirements. Many years ago, when the Pax television channel launched, I decided I was not willing to wait the four years allowed by law for a new channel to begin captioning.
That time, I did whatever it took to convince Pax that they had to start captioning asap and not wait four years. One of my tactics was to post so many messages of complaint on their website bulletin board that they had to shut it down temporarily. It also took quite a bit of internet activity, contacting the fan groups of the shows that were on Pax at the time, to get their support. But it worked...Pax began captioning within months of the start of my self declared war on Pax with the intention of making such an example of Pax that other new networks would think twice before deciding to delay implementation of captioning for four years as allowed by law.
Ironically, it was Pax that gave us one of the most beloved shows starring a deaf person..Sue Thomas, FBEye starring Deanne Bray.
Comments
This is a very good idea. In fact, not only are people watching more uploaded videos on-line, but Netflix now has a lot of movies available to viewers that way, but with not captioning available.
It’s very good idea to have closed caption on video in the internet. yeah it would be nice to have it for deaf and hearing too. i do watch alike You Tube but no captioned shoot. let me know what will they do about it ok thanks karen
my 16 year old deaf son is always on the pc on you tube and watching videos. i think it is a good idea. even though they do not realize it, i think it actually helps his friends who are with him in case they miss something. they are saying alot [what did they just say?] christine
We have “Comcast” cable, in New Hampshire. They are not keeping up with captioning in the new “HD” format!, many stations are already broadcasting in this format.
There is less & less closed captioning, what is happening?
A lot of comments on this subject, (my second), but I noticed something when my wife and I went to the movie at a theater last night. We still have no captioning in movie theaters. She pointed out that her uncle, who is deaf, has never been to a movie at a theater in his life because of it. Any idea why it has taken so long? It isn’t like movie theaters are a new thing.
I wonder what is going on with captioning. i am Hard of hearing and can barely do without it – I miss too much of the meaning of things without it.
one movie theater in Denver showed movies with captioning – and have discontinued captioned movies this past year. i don’t know why though. i did not attend there because it’s easier for me to rent dvd’s and watch at home where I can repeat when needed.
this is so important to have closed captioning – we need to do whateer to have our needs met.
Wow, this would be great! I’ve lost count of how many times I missed out on something because there isn’t captioning!
This is the first time I have ever posted multiple times on one subject, but here is my third. Any ideas on any plans currently to get captioning required (or voluntarily for that matter) in movie theaters? If not, is that the next step we need to take? It does seem way overdue, and should have been addressed long ago.