Closed Captioning Blog

On June 20, 2010, New York Times reporter Brian Stelter wrote an article that criticized the lack of captioning available for Web videos. He states that advocates like Marlee Matlin have been fighting for captions on popular sites like CNN.com and Netflix. Many sites that contain videos and entertainment clips such as CBS.com, NBC.com, and MSN.com all lack captions or are inconsistent with their captions.

With a growing trend towards Internet video, advocates are urging Congress to pass a bill that would mandate captions on online videos that have also appeared on television. They are also pushing for captions to be more accessible by requiring closed-caption buttons on remote controls. Stelter notes, “The prospect of legislation is motivating some major Web site operators to add captions more quickly.” A few companies are attempting to create a universal standard for online captions, which would make it easier to adapt TV captions to other formats.

Media companies are beginning to understand the importance of captions and are now taking action. YouTube and Google provide captions for any video uploaded as of April, which is mutually beneficial—the text added to their videos aides in searches. Hulu, a Web site that offers free TV episodes, now offers captions for many of its popular shows. Eric Feng, the chief technical officer for Hulu, stated that “Users send us feedback about closed captions more often than almost any other feature, so what started as a small side project has turned into a very important part of our user experience.”

Adding captions to all Web videos is a giant endeavor, which will likely take a huge amount of time, but in the end, it will provide accessibility to the 36 million Americans who rely on captions.