Amidst the growing number of accessibility discrimination lawsuits being filed against US movie theater chains, the Department of Justice announced yesterday that a Final Rule of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III will soon be published to enforce a nationally consistent standard. This rulemaking will provide specific requirements that cinemas must now meet to satisfy their equal access obligations to patrons with hearing and vision disabilities.
For screenings of features produced with closed captioning, movie theaters will now be required to provide caption display devices, such as Sony’s Access Glasses or Dolby’s CaptiView, to patrons who request them. The law will also require these theaters to provide assistive listening devices for any film produced with an audio description track, which contains a personal narration throughout the film.Read
Earlier this month, a team of Aberdeen caption editors took an educational field trip to the cinema! We were excited to check out Sony’s closed captioning glasses offered at Regal Cinemas. We decided to watch Hillsong’s “Let Hope Rise” documentary.
Our captioning team awaiting their showtime. Left to right: Nathan, Austin, Christina, and Brittany
We were surprised at how easy the process was—you simply need to check that accessibility devices are available for the movie you want to see. After you purchase your tickets, head over to guest services and request the glasses. Unfortunately, there were only 4 pairs of glasses available so we had to share.
The team sporting the Sony's Access Glasses. Left to right: Christina, Brittany, Nathan, and Flora
The glasses fit like heavy 3-D glasses. They are attached to a small receiver box where you can choose mid, near, or far distance and even change the brightness of the text. (You can also choose different languages if available and there is a headphone output if you desire described audio as well.)
Christina's POV through Sony's Access Glasses
The captions appear in bright green font and “move” on the screen depending on where you look or how you tilt your head (which took a little getting used to). This technology is wonderful for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and is likely going to encourage these viewers to choose Regal over other theaters. We had a blast evaluating the closed captions as we watched and were all pretty impressed with the movie theater glasses.
The field trip was even more rewarding for our team because of our longstanding relationship with the Hillsong team. The influx of content due to the June 1st Hillsong Channel launch has exposed more of our captioners to their productions and, along the way, created a few more super-fans of their work. They all jumped at the opportunity to check out their new theatrical release.
Here’s the trailer for the documentary...
A few weeks ago, we announced that the FCC published their final ruling on the responsibilities related to the provision and quality of closed captions on pre-recorded programming (FCC: Captioning Assurance Now a Shared Responsibility) effective September 22, 2016. To producers and owners of content, you are now directly responsible for providing and confirming the compliance of captioning work for non-exempt programming.
The Commission’s on-going attention to closed captioning quality, along with the NAD’s persistent class action lawsuits against universities, Netflix, Hulu, movie theaters, and airlines, are further proof that captioning work still remains inconsistent throughout the industry.
As a captioning company, we passionately support any efforts put in place to ensure that the industry can support and enforce these standards.Read
On February 18, 2016, the FCC implemented amendments to its rules on closed captioning of televised video programming to help clarify which bodies are responsible for the quality and the technical aspects of the delivery of closed captions on television. In a publication posted to the Federal Register last week, the FCC has assigned September 22, 2016, as the effective date for these new responsibilities.
In short, the FCC will now be holding the individual Video Programmers (producer, ministry, etc.) responsible for meeting the closed captioning quality standards in addition to holding TV stations responsible for broadcasting closed captions correctly. Video Programmers will also be required to register directly with the FCC in the future. More on that to come in the following weeks.
Follow the law or be ready to face the FCC directly.Read
Today, the Federal Communications Commission has published its final ruling on the responsibilities related to the provision and quality of closed captions on television programming. The FCC will now be moving to a shared responsibility model that, while still imposing primary responsibility on video program distributors (VPDs), will now shift some of that responsibility directly to the video programmers (VPs) that produce the content. Each entity will be responsible for closed captioning issues that are primarily within its control.Read
Effective August 1, 2016, a new law authored by Minnesota politician Brian Daniels now requires all televisions in common areas at medical facilities in Minnesota to turn on the closed captioning feature.
The bill, which was signed into law on May 22 of this year, was an effort by Mr. Daniels to address a problem brought to his attention by the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf. According to Daniels, he can recall the exact story that triggered his motivation to move forward in pursuing this matter. He had heard of a family sitting in a hospital waiting room one morning struggling to make sense of the breaking news of a horrific tragedy unfolding in New York. That was the morning of September 11, 2001.
It was not a difficult task for the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf to gain his attention on this matter. Back in 1996, Daniels and his family relocated to the city of Faribault so his son, Jeremiah, who is severely hard of hearing, could attend the MSAD. He highlighted his joy in serving the deaf community of Minnesota, saying, “I’m just so proud of it because it affects my family and so many people we know in the community.”
In addition to waiting rooms in hospitals, other medical facilities include surgical centers, birth centers, and certain group homes. Group Homes affected are those that provide housing, meals, and services to five or more people who are developmentally or physically disabled, chemically dependent, or mentally ill. However, it does not apply to medical clinics, nursing homes, or assisted living facilities.
This was one of several new laws to go into effect on August 1st and another promising example of the increasing efforts of lawmakers to help gain accessibility for all.
Archived notice (2016): This post documents the launch of Hillsong Channel and Aberdeen’s involvement at the time. The channel/network referenced here is no longer active in its original form, and this article is kept online for historical reference.
Today, in a partnership with Trinity Broadcasting Network, Hillsong Church has launched The Hillsong Channel. The 24-hour channel will feature Hillsong Church’s globally recognized worship performances, conferences, documentaries, children’s programming, talk shows, and messages from Christian leaders – including Hillsong Senior Pastor Brian Houston and his wife Bobbi Houston.
"This powerful new praise and worship network will offer an amazing opportunity for us to reach a whole new generation of viewers with the message of hope and grace as we partner with the most iconic and far-reaching presence in contemporary Christian music." - TBN Chairman Matthew Crouch said in his statement.
Aberdeen Broadcast Services has been a proud partner of the Trinity Broadcasting Family of Networks for 15 years and can attribute much of our growth within the industry to that relationship. Beginning as a trusted closed captioning provider, we soon became one of TBN’s sidekicks in their transition into the digital age. Now, we are a reliable resource in the network’s digital video supply chain, providing closed-captioned, custom broadcast-transcoded digital files of programs airing on all of their channels. And because we have also worked with Hillsong Church since 2002, we are privileged to work alongside and witness the tremendous growth the ministry has experienced over the years.
Hillsong Church's reach extends across 14 countries and five continents and, according to its website, has an average weekly attendance worldwide of 100,000. The channel is a rebranding of TBN’s The Church Channel and is expected to reach over 60 million homes in the U.S. through a variety of cable providers, including DirecTV, Glorystar, Verizon Fios, AT&T, and Sky.
Aberdeen would like to extend our heartfelt praises to our client and trusted AberFast station partner, GEB America for being the recipient of the 2016 Full Power TV Station of the Year Award presented at the NRB Proclaim conference last month. The award was given as part of NRB’s Annual Media Awards program, which honors and celebrates excellence in production, service to the community, faithfulness to the mission, commitment to the Gospel, and personal integrity.
Every year on March 2 (Dr. Seuss’ birthday), kids head off to school and celebrate reading with a program called Read Across America. Teachers set up cozy areas of the classroom where kids can relax and get lost in their favorite books.
But have you heard of Read Captions Across America? It is celebrated just like Read Across America but with an added twist—kids are encouraged to “read” educational programming that has the closed captioning turned on. The purpose is to raise awareness that closed captioning can promote literacy and foster reading skills. This celebration was founded by the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) in partnership with the National Education Association.
Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP)
DCMP promotes and provides equal access to learning for students who are blind, deaf, or hard of hearing. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by the National Association of the Deaf, the DCMP verifies and monitors the capabilities of captioning companies on their ability to meet their captioning requirements.
DCMP sets standards and offers guidelines for closed captioning, adhering to a reading speed (also called words per minute) that is appropriate for beginning readers to follow. Aberdeen Broadcast Services relies on DCMP’s Captioning Key as the basis for our closed captioning rules. We use it to train our new caption editors and transcribers on the importance of closed captioning quality. These guidelines help us adhere to the preferred captioning style of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
In 2011, Aberdeen Broadcast Services produced a PSA to help promote this event. You can view the video below, but remember to turn on the captions!
To learn more, visit the Read Captions Across America site here. There you will find access to appropriate media to share with students on this special day. DCMP even offers classic Dr. Seuss cartoons that are closed-captioned.
Gogo Business Aviation, in its continuing efforts to be the leading provider of in-flight entertainment, has made an admirable step towards accessibility with an agreement with the US National Association of the Deaf (NAD) to add closed captioning to their on-demand streaming service, Gogo Vision. Despite the Department of Transportation’s directive on the presence of closed captioning on video monitors in airport terminals, this agreement is the first of its kind with an in-flight entertainment company.
“This is a monumental step in making in-flight entertainment accessible to the 48 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States alone. Personalized in-flight entertainment has made air travel exciting again. The ability to access and watch an extensive library of movies or television shows helps pass the time on long flights. The NAD is thus thrilled by Gogo’s decision to make the in-flight entertainment experience equally accessible to deaf and hard of hearing passengers.”
NAD CEO Howard Rosenblum
The first step of the deal between the two parties includes Gogo developing the technology that supports closed captioning on their media players accessed by passengers on their WiFi-enabled devices. Once that is effectively implemented, they will begin sourcing content from their library with captions with the entire venture finalized by June 30, 2017. This modest 18-month cushion should provide ample time for a successful roll-out.
Gogo Vision is currently on board (pun intended) with 2200 aircraft domestically. Although the agreement is focused only on US domestic flights initially, an international implementation should not be far behind. This is an exciting step in the right direction to ensure an equally accessible, and enjoyable, flying experience for all passengers.
All captions offered in the Gogo Vision library will be compliant with current FCC captioning standards.
