YouTube Versus Hulu: A Chance for Deaf To Make a Difference?

Last week, YouTube announced that it was going to take on Hulu.com, competing with Hulu as a source of full-length online television programming. While Hulu already has plenty of programming including a pitiful few captioned programs, YouTube is starting with CBS programming. This is serious competition for Hulu, because YouTube has millions more users than Hulu.

This is where deaf and hard of hearing people might be able to make a difference, albeit small. If deaf and hard of hearing people were to contact YouTube (owner Google) and Hulu and inform them that whichever company provides more captioned programming is the company that is going to get our viewership, we just might be able to get more increases in online captioned programming. (At this time I don't even know if the YouTube programming will have captions. The news articles and press releases did not say. If anyone knows the answer, please share.)

The deaf and hard of hearing community is small. However, we can be loud in our demands, and we can spread the word about available online captioned programming. In the battle for commercial advertising dollars, neither company can afford to ignore us and our needs totally. In fact, one reason that YouTube is starting to air full length programming, is because they are under pressure to generate more advertising revenue.

Contact information for YouTube: http://www.google.com/support/contact/bin/request.py?press=1 (This is on google's website, but Google owns YouTube).
Contact information for Hulu: feedback@hulu.com