Getting Access to Online Programming

Recently, we’ve heard some good news about finding captioned and subtitled programs on the Internet.

WGBH Announces Captioning Collaboration with Netflix

From The Media Access Group at WGBH:

We’re proud to be able to announce that we have been--and are right this minute--working with Netflix to caption and subtitle movies and TV shows to watch instantly via their service. Here's a link to Netflix's blog posting on the topic:

This is Neil Hunt, Chief Product Officer for Netflix, with an update on subtitles on content available to watch instantly from Netflix. In the US, more than 3,500 TV episodes and movies have subtitles available, representing about 30% of viewing. (This is in addition to the subtitles already available “burned in” to the picture for all non-English content.) More subtitles are being added every week, and we expect to get to 80% viewing coverage by the end of 2011. We've added this page on the Netflix Website that lists all of the TV shows and movies that are available with subtitles. It is accessible via a link in the Netflix Website footer, via search (for “subtitle” or “caption”), or linked from the detail page of any title that has subtitles.
http://blog.netflix.com/2011/02/30-of-netflix-streaming-content-has.html

About The Media Access Group at WGBH
Media Access Group at WGBH has been pioneering and delivering accessible media to disabled adults, students, and their families, teachers, and friends for over 30 years. For more information, visit http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag

About Netflix
Netflix currently has over 20 million members in the United States and Canada. For $7.99 a month, members can watch an unlimited number of movies and TV episodes using either their computer or one of more than 200 other devices (including iPhones and iPads) capable of streaming movies via Netflix. Netflix ships some 2 million discs daily in the US.
The company has over 2,000 employees between its headquarters and distribution centers. Netflix has experienced quite a bit of growth over the last year, having increased its membership by 63 percent.


Finding captioned and subtitled programming on Netflix

The following is from a press release issued by Phlixie.com (our thanks to Nanci Link Ellis for alerting us to this resource)

When Captionfish was created, it simplified the task of finding accessible entertainment at public venues everywhere. Now we have a different kind of challenge: finding accessible titles online from different content providers and being able to sort out where and how it will work.

To provide a solution, Phlixie was created by people associated with Captionfish. http://www.Phlixie.com Phlixie allows you to find accessible titles on Netflix. Over time, Phlixie plans/hopes to expand this to include Hulu, iTunes, captioned Web Series, etc. If you'd like specifics of how: http://www.phlixie.com/about


Statistics
based on data collected by PhlixieI, Netflix now has:

- 38,456 individual instant titles (includes movies and episodes in TV series)

- 6,031 individual instant titles with captions or burned in English subtitles

- 11,158 top-level instant titles (includes movie titles and individual seasons in a TV series, e.g. Greek: Season One)

- 1,408 top-level instant titles with captions or burned in English subtitles

- 909 instant titles with captions

http://www.phlixie.com/about


And now, Zediva: a new online video service

Netflix now has a competitor. There is a new online video service that provides greater access to videos at a lower cost than Netflix. According to their web site, Zediva.com, the services they provide include captioned and subtitled films:

At this time, we have enabled 2 special DVD features - Subtitles and Languages. The Language feature will contain the Director's Commentary as well, if one is included on the DVD. Closed captioning, if available on the DVD, is also automatically supported.
Zediva has already created more demand that it can handle: a note on their home page indicates that registration is closed while they build capacity. However, people can put their name on the wait list while Zediva grows to fit the need.


With more streamed videos on Netflix captioned, easier ways to find those videos and new choices of service providers, people with hearing loss may finally get access to the videos we want to see.