Trends in Closed Captioning
By Tiffany S. Thomas

In increasing numbers, video producers in the religious community are not only taking to the traditional broadcast airwaves, but also venturing onto the Internet as a means of spreading the Word and connecting with their fellowship. 

With this, many are discovering the benefits of repurposing video taken from the pulpit, classrooms, circles, etc., and distributing them in ways that even five years ago were unheard of. To think that congregants would be watching sermons, lessons, and other programming while sitting in front of a computer monitor or a screen on a cell phone or PDA just shows how far we have come to create and grow healthy, organic church communities. 

Yet, video producers have a further responsibility and opportunity—providing video for broader accessibility. By captioning their video, producers make it accessible to millions of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, along with the growing number of people who don’t need captioning but appreciate the option of watching their video without listening to the audio.

Evolution of Broadcast Captioning
Religious broadcasting has come a long way since Dr. Robert Schuller first televised the “Hour of Power” in 1970. However, it wasn’t until 1980 that U.S. programming became available in accessible formats for people with disabilities. That is when closed captioning – visual displays of the spoken word in blocks of one to three lines of text on the television screen, which was developed for the deaf and hard-of-hearing – came into use. 

Embedded in line 21 of the vertical blanking interval of the television signal, closed captions appear as white letters on a black background. A special device, known as a caption decoder, allows viewers to see the “encoded” closed captioning on their television screen. Mass retailer Sears is credited with developing and selling the first caption decoder (then known as a Telecaption adaptor) in 1980. Early adopters of closed captioning that year included several popular, family-oriented shows, including “Disney’s Wonderful World.”

Over the next 20 years, a series of federal laws provided the framework to make video content more uniformly accessible to all Americans. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) set the groundwork for all educational and instructional video produced by the government and some private organizations to be accessible for the deaf and hard-of-hearing population. That same year, the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 was enacted, requiring all televisions (13 inches and larger) that were manufactured after July 1993 to have built-in caption decoders. Note: Ten years later, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an order to ensure that digital television (DTV) receivers also include the closed caption decoding capability, effective July 1, 2002. However, the principal laws mandating closed captioning in America are the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the Telecomm Act) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 508).

Telecomm Act
Following its enactment, the FCC set timelines for broadcasters, cable, and satellite distributors to close caption new and pre-existing television programs. The schedule distinguished between "new" programming (analog programming first shown after January 1, 1998, and digital programming first shown after July 1, 2002), and “pre-rule” programming (analog and digital programming first shown prior to such dates). In addition, there was a separate schedule for Spanish-language programming.

Currently, 100% of all new and 75% of all pre-rule, English language programming must be closed captioned. The closed captioning of Spanish-language programming is being phased in on a later schedule. Currently, 75% of all new and 30% of pre-rule, Spanish-language programming must be closed captioned. In 2010, all new Spanish-language programming must be closed captioned, and in 2012, 75% of all pre-rule Spanish programming must be closed captioned.

Section 508
This law, coupled with the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, requires all electronic and information technology provided by federal agencies to be accessible to people with disabilities, including employees and the general public. This means that all informational and training videos and other multimedia productions developed, procured, maintained, or used by any federal agency must be open or closed captioned to provide access to the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

Historically, some religious broadcasters have been exempted from federal closed captioning laws by qualifying for a waiver under FCC rules (Section 79.1(d)). Recently, however, obtaining such a waiver has become significantly more difficult, as the FCC has interpreted the waiver requirements much more narrowly. Consequently, more and more religious groups are finding that they must comply with the FCC’s closed captioning requirements – either by performing the captioning themselves or engaging the services of an outside provider.

Captioning Strategies, Styles, and Methods
While the FCC may have mandated captioning for most religious broadcasts, it hasn’t increased producers’ budgets to pay for them. Today, many enterprising ministries are offsetting the expense of closed captioning and other costs through the marketing of “closed captioning sponsorships.” Typically, sponsoring organizations receive acknowledgement of their donations in the closing credits of the programming. The overarching benefit of such a program is that it creates a “win” for the ministry and a “win” for the sponsoring organization.

When it comes to closed captioning, religious video producers have a wide range of solutions available to them. To help these individuals make the best decision for their ministries, they should ask themselves the following questions:

* To what extent do I want to be responsible for the captioning process?
* What am I willing to accept in terms of quality, turnaround, reliability, and price?

Unquestionably, outsourcing the closed captioning function provides the best option from a “hand’s off” standpoint. When a religious organization does its part to produce a fine video program, it pays to work with a company that specializes in closed captioning, is committed to ongoing technological advancements (hardware and software), and holds itself to the highest standards.

When outsourcing the closed captioning function, video producers should consider working with service providers with a proven track record. For example, if meeting broadcast air dates is a concern, it would be advantageous to work with a reliable provider offering flexible workflow processes – even same day turnarounds, if needed. 

Additionally, providers should offer services that leverage the latest technology. For example, one exciting development is producing closed captioning for integration with nonlinear editing (NLE) systems. While this process isn’t applicable to all NLE editing systems, it has proven an efficient and cost-effective workflow method for a growing number of producers.  

With NLE captioning, producers forward their videos to service providers as small digital reference files (typically posted to an FTP site). The closed caption provider then uses these reference files to caption the video and then outputs video files containing only the closed caption data. The video files are then sent to the producer (typically via FTP) and are imported into the NLE. When the final video is then output to tape, it already contains all of the closed caption data. 

Lastly, closed caption providers should be equipped to offer a broad range of related services. For instance, if a producer has a show destined for U.S. broadcast, multi-language subtitling for overseas distribution on DVD, and open captioning for the Web, caption providers should be able to demonstrate an ability to optimize the combined workflow process and pass along the resulting cost savings.

Web Captioning
While the FCC has not yet mandated the captioning of Web video, an increasing number of religious organizations are offering captioned video online and making it available as podcasts for an ever widening range of players and devices, including Apple’s iPod and iPhone.

While one objective is certainly to reach out to deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals on the Internet, savvy video producers realize that they are also accommodating the growing number of Internet users who prefer receiving their video captioned, giving them the option of watching with the audio turned off. Again, by outsourcing to a reputable service provider, video producers can ensure their highest standards for captioning will be met. 

While QuickTime, RealVideo and Windows Media are the most common streaming media formats, Flash video, with its high quality and small file sizes, is quickly taking over the Internet. For experienced Flash developers and those who want to implement the caption integration themselves, service providers can caption video and provide flash captioning data files. They also can offer a turnkey solution to caption, capture, and transcode the video and publish it to a finished swf or html file, complete with a “closed caption” button to turn the captions on and off – ready to add to the Web site.

Finally, with so many users unsure of how to configure their media players for accessible viewing, an increasing number of religious video producers are discovering the benefits of offering open captioning. Here, they might provide users with two versions of their video: one with the captions burned onto the video and one without. By making these choices clearly visible onscreen and easy to use, video producers can dramatically reduce routine user queries.

The Future of Captioning
Whether it is federally required or not, captioning is an important tool for religious video producers. It not only enables them to spread the Word to millions of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, but it is of significant benefit to users who don’t need captioning but appreciate the option of watching their video without listening to the audio. 

By engaging the services of a reputable service provider and factoring the expense of closed captioning services into their video production budget, religious video producers can ensure that the resulting product has met their highest standards.

Tiffany Thomas is the director of business development for Video Caption Corporation, www.vicaps.com, a leading source for offline captioning and subtitling solutions.