On TV, why is closed captioning always “provided in part by” something, IE a certain company? Why isn’t it just part of broadcasting standards that closed captions need to be present by default?
In: 37
I work in engineering and master control at a local PBS station and have some insight. There are a couple of parts to this, already mentioned by others, and some fun information I have from experience.
1. There are regulations in place in various countries. I can’t quote the specifics off of the top of my head, but I believe the regulations started years ago when over the air was the standard. As technology has changed, television has adapted, but continued to maintain older elements for legacy users and systems built on and dependant on legacy methods. Nowadays channels are provided via over the air, cable, satellite, and streaming. So standards from over the air have carried over (and not just captioning requirements). So captions are required for most programming and there are even standards relating to how they’re displayed, accuracy, etc.
2. Studios and stations specialize in the production and transmission of the content. Sometimes they can and do caption things themselves, though as mentioned elsewhere, captioning can be labor intensive and to be efficient and ensure you meet the requirements requires a degree of specialization. So it is often easier to outsource the work. Sometimes that’s where the “provided by” comes from.
3. Also mentioned previously, television production is costly. Studios like to offset the cost via sponsors and underwriting. These names can become attached to the captioning “provided by” if their contract is written specifically to fund that element. Where I work, grants and sponsor spots are often sold in this manner. It makes it easier to track what elements are covered and where the money is coming from/going.
4. Nowadays, captioning can be automated! Many people seem to prefer the method where a captioned dials in, listens, and types live and those captions are added to the outgoing signal. However, AI systems are getting better every day. We use a European company that provides captions this way for our live shows. It promises a certain level of accuracy that fits the requirements and allows us to send lists of specialized words to help the captioning program for things like local Town names, scientific phrases, or other lesser common things that would be specific to the content discussed.
Latest Answers