Closed Captions Watch

5/24/2012

Lifetime, Please Provide Closed Captions for Online Videos

Dear www.mylifetime.com,

As a Lifetime television and movies fan with a hearing loss, I am writing to express my concerns about the lack of captioned online videos of current movies and television shows on their website (www.mylifetime.com). I am unable to comprehend the dialogue due to lack of captions. Because of this, I no longer visit www.mylifetime.com to watch videos.

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting that 34 million U.S. adults as deaf or hard of hearing, it would be in Lifetime's best interest to provide captioned streaming videos as a way to appeal to this large group of potential viewers. Imagine the level of support and good PR your site would receive if you launched online videos with the option of closed captions!

I welcome your thoughts and will be following up with you on behalf of the millions of Americans with hearing loss.

Respectfully,

Elizabeth

Contact Information: http://www.mylifetime.com/d6/about-us/support

Viewer Relations at 212-424-7122

5/20/2012

Response from Amazon

From Amazon's customer service:

Hello Elizabeth,

I'm sorry that your experience with Amazon Instant Video hasn't been all that it could be due to the lack of closed captioning.

On your behalf I have forwarded this contact to our development team to show what an important feature this is to our customers as well as for us to have in general.

We strive to provide the best service that will accommodate the needs of all our customers. I agree that adding closed captioning would be the next big step in achieving that goal.

Thank you for taking the time to write in and let us know what you would like to have available in our Amazon Instant Video service.

Have a wonderful day. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

And another response:

Hello Elizabeth,

At this time, closed captioning is not available for Amazon Instant Videos.

I appreciate your feedback and have passed it on to our Amazon Instant Video team. Customer feedback like yours is very important in helping us continue to improve the experience of watching our digital videos.

Thanks for your interest in Amazon Instant Video. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

3/22/2012

Yay! It's Official: Censored Captions Issue Resolved

I got this email today from the Disability Rights Office Federal Communications Commission:

Good Afternoon Ms. [deleted],

I have received the company response regarding your complaint. The company concludes this matter is resolved and this email to verify resolution between you, the company and this specific complaint.

Thanks in Advance

It's official. The issue has been resolved. This is great news!!!

Being persistent and patient paid off! I don't know how many letters I sent to AMC TV Networks expressing my disappointment in how they censored the language used only in the closed captions but not the audio portion on several of their television shows such as Breaking Bad, Hell On Wheels, and The Walking Dead. I pleaded with them to listen and to resolve the issue as soon as possible. I wanted the dialogue to match the captions. If the spoken dialogue is not censored, don't censor it in the captions. If the spoken dialogue is censored, censor it in the captions. I want to read what the hearing audience is hearing. I blogged about this issue several times to the point of being obsessive. It is an important issue that I and several others feel strongly about and something needed to be done.

A big thanks to everyone who got involved and sent complaints and letters to the FCC and AMC TV Networks! Thank you!!!

I want to also thank the following:

My family, friends, boyfriend, readers, and fellow bloggers for your encouragement and support.

My father for helping me form my thoughts and write clear and effective letters. I also want to thank him for reminding me to remain cordial, respectful, calm, and professional when discussing my issues with AMC TV Networks and the FCC.

Scott Johnston for first pointing out this issue to me. Without Scott, I would have not started watching Breaking Bad and experience the horror of censored closed captions.

Don Grushkin, Liddell Simpson, and Scott Johnston for your efforts and support.

The FCC for taking my complaints seriously and helping with resolving the issue.

Greg Hlibok, Chief of the FCC's Disability Rights Office, for your support and for taking the time to respond to our emails and to explain the situation.

I apologize if I forgot anyone. I am writing this blog post quickly and in excitement. There were many others who got involved, but I am not sure if they want me to put their names here, for privacy reasons.

And

Thank you AMC TV Networks for finally agreeing to resolve the issue fully!

Whew! I feel like celebrating. :)

2/12/2012

Did AMC TV Finally Listen?

Right now I am watching AMC's Walking Dead marathon. I am very pleased with the fact that none of the curse words or inappropriate language that can be heard are censored in the closed captions. I am hoping that they are no longer censoring just the captions on their other television shows as well. I hope this isn't just a fluke and that on Season 3 of Walking Dead, premiering tonight, they will not go back to only censoring the language used in the captions, but not the audio portion.

In the past, AMC TV censored only the closed captions but not the audio on shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Hell On Wheels, and Walking Dead. While some profanity could be clearly heard, they were censored in the captions.

Here are some examples:

After receiving many complaints from me and several others (THANKS!), maybe AMC finally listened? I hope so. We'll have to see.

(e

2/07/2012

CNN Sued For Lack of Captioning For Online Videos

According to the San Francisco Chronicle's article, a lawyer for CNN said that they acted within their "free-speech rights" when they chose not to use closed-captioning technology for online videos.

What they don't seem to understand is that they did not act within their free speech rights, they violated equal access laws. It's about equal access. Deaf and hard of hearing viewers should not be intentionally left out.

It's 2012, people. How hard can it be to provide captioned online videos? Think about how much more viewers they would attract to their website if they include captioned videos.