By 2014, all of Netflix's streaming video will be captioned, according to Disability Scoop.
Netflix has been in legal battles over captioning for years, since they were sued in 2010 over their captioned content (or lack thereof). Even as they fought various rulings, the number of captioned videos on Netflix rose, to the point that 90% of their videos are captioned today.
I'm very happy to see this ruling. As a fairly recent Netflix subscriber, I've found that most of what I want to watch is captioned, but there are always exceptions. For me, those exceptions mostly come in the form of various documentaries and educational TV shows I'd like to watch - now I'll finally be able to, as long as Netflix doesn't make severe cuts to its streaming library as a result of this decision.
Combined with Amazon.com's recent decision to start captioning its Instant Video titles and the FCC's deadlines on captioned internet video, I think we're finally near a point where accessibility is recognized as an important part of providing online media.
This is good news. The problem (I think) is that you have to have the right device paired with the right vendor. I still can't access Netflix closed caption streaming on my Vizio TV (as far as I know). But I understand it does work on other devices.
ReplyDeleteI checked the Amazon library last night to see what was available and was disappointed - nothing that looked interesting to me. Hopefully this, too, will expand.
Thank you for keeping us all in the loop about this.