Netflix pledges to caption all content by 2014

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Smithtr

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BOSTON (AP) — Netflix will offer closed captions on all TV and movie content by September 2014 as part of a settlement with a deaf Massachusetts viewer who sued the company.

The on-demand Internet streaming service agreed to the settlement Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Springfield.

Closed captions are currently available on 90 percent of Netflix’s content, as measured by hours watched.

‘‘Netflix has always been the leader in this, but it’s a tall order to offer high quality captioning on such a broad range of devices,’’ spokesman Jonathan Friedland said.

In the meantime, the company will display a list of available close-captioned content.

Captions can be displayed on a majority of the more than 1,000 devices, from computers to video game consoles, on which Netflix is available. But many devices and operating systems, such as Google’s Android, did not exist when the company gained traction in the early 2000s.

Massachusetts resident Lee Nettles, along with national and regional associations for the deaf and hearing impaired, sued Netflix in 2010 under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability.

Other online streaming providers, including Hulu and Amazon, also have been trying to increase their captioned programming.
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Netflix pledges to caption all content by 2014 - Business - Boston.com
 
Closed captions are currently available on 90 percent of Netflix's content, as measured by hours watched.
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Is that a fact? Whether it's a fact or not, Netflix must give a discount to deaf members since it's not 100%. Right?
 
whatdidyousay! said:
So Netflix does not have CC on their rental movies ?
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On DVDs by mail, I think all of them are captioned but on streaming movies (online), some of them are captioned, not 100% yet. However Netflix said 90% of them are captioned so far. I think that's bullshit.
 
I think what they do is count all the episodes of a series to bump up the stats. For example "Lost" has cc. They count all 100 & something episodes of "Lost" as having cc instead of just counting it as one title. I've been noticing that they've been captioning more of the TV programs to increase their stats but not movies.
 
CrazyPaul said:
On DVDs by mail, I think all of them are captioned but on streaming movies (online), some of them are captioned, not 100% yet. However Netflix said 90% of them are captioned so far. I think that's bullshit.
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That's not true....and it's hit or miss via streaming, but so far, if you wait...they eventually get the captions - at least as far as streaming goes. The one thing I really hate though is when they dub my foreign films into English instead of leaving it in the original language with subtitles...God I hate that.....:mad:

Laura
 
Another link: Netflix agrees to subtitle all films by 2014 - CNN.com

Netflix said it already captions 82% of its videos. True or false?

The company has also agreed to speedily caption new content. The agreement says that Netflix will put captions on new content within 30 days by 2014; within 14 days by 2015; and within 7 days by 2016, "and shall strive to reach a point at which Conforming Captions are provided simultaneously with launch at all times."
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That deal still doesn't sound good to me since during 2013-2016, its deaf customers still have to wait for the videos to be captioned before they can watch them while hearing customers can watch the videos immediately.

I think FCC is not strict enough. The new law is not completely satisfactory. SAD! IMO, due to CVAA, all internet videos such as news and streaming movies should be always captioned when they are released, not later. For example, most BDs/DVDs are already captioned when they are released. It should apply the same to internet NOW.

I forgot to add that VOD (Video On Demand) for TV are already captioned as well. In short, Netflix still sucks (even my hearing son said the same thing).
 
Netflix and deaf-rights group settle suit over video captions

Netflix and the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) have come to an agreement about captions for the company's streaming videos: 100 percent must be captioned by 2014.

The agreement comes by way of a class action lawsuit filed by NAD in 2010 that alleged the streaming service was "failing to provide adequate closed captioning on 'Watch Instantly' streaming video programming," and therefore was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

After back-and-forth between the lawyers -- and Netflix working to get the case thrown out -- the two sides finally settled this week.

"We have worked consistently to make the broadest possible selection of titles available to Netflix members who are deaf or hard of hearing and are far and away the industry leader in doing so," Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt said in a statement. "We are pleased to have reached this agreement and hope it serves as a benchmark for other providers of streaming video entertainment."

Netflix and NAD agreed to a consent decree (PDF) that outlines the terms of the settlement. According to the directing attorney for the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, "The Decree is a model for the streaming entertainment industry." In the decree, Netflix agreed to finish captioning 90 percent of its entire library by 2013 and 100 percent by 2014. As of now, 82 percent is already captioned. The streaming service also agreed to caption incoming new content as quickly as possible -- within 30 days by 2014, 14 days by 2015, and 7 days by 2016. Additionally, Netflix is obliged to pay the $755,000 in legal fees to NAD's lawyers and another $40,000 to put the decree in place over the next four years.

"The National Association of the Deaf congratulates Netflix for committing to 100 percent captioning, and is thrilled to announce that 48 million deaf and hard of hearing people will be able to fully access Netflix's Watch Instantly services," NAD CEO Howard A. Rosenblum said in a statement.Netflix and deaf-rights group settle suit over video captions | Internet & Media - CNET News
 
Smithtr said:
Netflix and the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) have come to an agreement about captions for the company's streaming videos: 100 percent must be captioned by 2014.

The agreement comes by way of a class action lawsuit filed by NAD in 2010 that alleged the streaming service was "failing to provide adequate closed captioning on 'Watch Instantly' streaming video programming," and therefore was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

After back-and-forth between the lawyers -- and Netflix working to get the case thrown out -- the two sides finally settled this week.

"We have worked consistently to make the broadest possible selection of titles available to Netflix members who are deaf or hard of hearing and are far and away the industry leader in doing so," Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt said in a statement. "We are pleased to have reached this agreement and hope it serves as a benchmark for other providers of streaming video entertainment."

Netflix and NAD agreed to a consent decree (PDF) that outlines the terms of the settlement. According to the directing attorney for the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, "The Decree is a model for the streaming entertainment industry." In the decree, Netflix agreed to finish captioning 90 percent of its entire library by 2013 and 100 percent by 2014. As of now, 82 percent is already captioned. The streaming service also agreed to caption incoming new content as quickly as possible -- within 30 days by 2014, 14 days by 2015, and 7 days by 2016. Additionally, Netflix is obliged to pay the $755,000 in legal fees to NAD's lawyers and another $40,000 to put the decree in place over the next four years.

"The National Association of the Deaf congratulates Netflix for committing to 100 percent captioning, and is thrilled to announce that 48 million deaf and hard of hearing people will be able to fully access Netflix's Watch Instantly services," NAD CEO Howard A. Rosenblum said in a statement.Netflix and deaf-rights group settle suit over video captions | Internet & Media - CNET News
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I'll believe this when I see it. It would be nice to be able to enjoy watching something I'm paying for....you'd think something like having options for captions would be common sense?

Laura
 
Lau2046 said:
I'll believe this when I see it. It would be nice to be able to enjoy watching something I'm paying for....you'd think something like having options for captions would be common sense?

Laura
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It would be nice to have options for subtitles (to change font type, size and color) but I don't think Netflix will ever offer that feature. DVD/BD players don't have that feature, either.

Only a few media players such as XBMC and VideoLAN have it as long as the subtitles are downloaded from a website like opensubtitles.org or subscene.com.

TVs and STBs (Set-top boxes such as cable/satellite boxes, Tivo, other DVRs) have a built-in digital CC decoder that has this feature. In near future, DVD/BD players will include the digital CC decoder as per FCC's new law.
 
Lau2046 said:
I'll believe this when I see it. It would be nice to be able to enjoy watching something I'm paying for....you'd think something like having options for captions would be common sense?

Laura
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opinion, i see on reading, it is very serious costly spending, I understand, it is pretty Netfix is very lots of require caption closed,


Complain, people to Netflix is reason fail. different of variety on steam, it is pretty netflex, it is not easy! it is longest it is slow process it improve change better implementable Caption Closed!
 
I wish Netflix need to change the subtitles options, I can't read yellow subtitles while watching movies..
 
Christer said:
I wish Netflix need to change the subtitles options, I can't read yellow subtitles while watching movies..
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Open-captioned movies at theaters usually have yellow subtitles as well. It used to be white a long time ago but alot of deaf viewers complained about it being hard to read so they changed it to yellow from then on.

As for me, yellow subtitles are more readable than other colors.
 
CrazyPaul said:
Open-captioned movies at theaters usually have yellow subtitles as well. It used to be white a long time ago but alot of deaf viewers complained about it being hard to read so they changed it to yellow from then on.

As for me, yellow subtitles are more readable than other colors.
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I'm the same way, if the white subs are large enough, they're fine, but yellow is just easier to read because it doesn't get washed out by the background colors.

Laura
 
Ok with Netflix out of the way, next up AMAZON! I have the Amazon prime membership and there isn't a single movie/tv show with closed captions unless it's a foreign film *sigh*
 
Christer said:
I wish Netflix need to change the subtitles options, I can't read yellow subtitles while watching movies..
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THIS!

I know some of the new TV's can allow you to edit the text colors for closed captioning but I also wish Netflix could give the members an option to change the text/background color for closed captioning.
 
tetris911 said:
Ok with Netflix out of the way, next up AMAZON! I have the Amazon prime membership and there isn't a single movie/tv show with closed captions unless it's a foreign film *sigh*
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Then why did you join it?
 
Lau2046 said:
That's not true....and it's hit or miss via streaming, but so far, if you wait...they eventually get the captions - at least as far as streaming goes. The one thing I really hate though is when they dub my foreign films into English instead of leaving it in the original language with subtitles...God I hate that.....:mad:

Laura
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Me Too! It looks so stupid as you know the actors and actresses are speaking a foreign language and theirs lips do not match what is being said it
in English . I find it very annoying.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
Me Too! It looks so stupid as you know the actors and actresses are speaking a foreign language and theirs lips do not match what is being said it
in English . I find it very annoying.
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You know, I think they've hired the same voices from the 60's Godzilla movies to dub the current films too. It sounds exactly alike...who are these people doing the voices? And they make the actors look stupid. Give me a Hong Kong film in Cantonese any day....

Laura
 
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