Frequently Asked Captioning Questions

In layperson’s terms, closed captioning is an electronic transcript of a televised program or preproduced video or DVD that allows a viewer to follow the spoken text and sound effects simultaneous to their occurrence.

Closed captions generally appear on Line 21 of a decoder-equipped television monitor’s Vertical Blank Interval (or VBI). VBI is the blank line of video picture between the bottom of one frame and the top of the next.

Closed captioning may be produced in either of three formats:

1. live (in industry terms, "on-line" or "realtime");
2. live-display; or
3. postproduction (also referred to as "pop-on").

In real-time captioning, a stenographer watches and/or listens to a live televised program, then transcribes the words and sounds into a specially designed stenotype machine. The stenotype machine is connected to an encoder (either directly or via modem); this encoder translates the stenotype code into readable language, which then is transmitted via satellite simultaneously with the televised program.

There are two ways which realtime captioning may be presented on a monitor screen: either ‘paint-on’ (where text is revealed one letter at a time left to right), or ‘roll-up’ (where an entire line of text ‘rolls’ onto the screen). Usually several lines of text remain onscreen at all times in on-line captioning.

Realtime captioning is used for live news reports and other live events, such as athletic games. South Carolina Education Television uses realtime captioning for the live transmission of South Carolina General Assembly proceedings.

Live-display captioning is transmitted live, but has been preproduced in a studio. After a program has been taped, a transcript is created, usually with markers indicating speaker changes. When the program airs, this edited transcript is transmitted in a paint-on or roll-up fashion, by a person, simultaneous to satellite transmission of the program.

Live-display is thus live, or realtime, in the sense that captions are transmitted as a program is being aired; but the transcript itself has been preproduced.

South Carolina Educational Television implements live-display captioning for quick turnaround, magazine-style shows, such as "Connections" and "From the Ground Up."

Post-production captioning is also known as "pop-on" captioning; that is, a caption appears and disappears all at once anywhere on a television screen, ideally for as long as a speaker or sound effect lasts.

Pop-up captioning is postproduced following a program’s completion. A transcript of the program is created and edited; individual sentences are broken down into "bubbles" of text, which are video edited to appear onscreen, usually at the bottom and proximate to the actual speaker.

When completed, the captioned file is ‘burned’ onto the master tape or digital program file, so it can be transmitted simultaneously with the program via satellite. In other words, pop-up captioning is not live, in the sense that no one transmits individual captions; they already exist on the master program tape or file.

The vast majority of television shows and films are captioned via pop-up. Over 75% of South Carolina Educational Television’s captioned programs are done using postproduction pop-up captioning, including such series as "Eye Wonder," "NatureScene," and "Project Discovery."

In 1991, the NCHS reported there were 4.8 million deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the United States. The NCHS states that number balloons to almost 20 million (roughly 10 percent of the American population) when combined with those who classify themselves as "hard of hearing." According to the NCHS, in 1996 there were approximately 22 million deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the U.S., an increase of 2 million.

The Federal Communications Commission states that for 10 percent of the American population, "closed captions provide a critical link to news, entertainment, and information for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing, enabling these individuals to be part of the cultural mainstream of our society."

Beyond that, closed captioning is extremely beneficial to segments of the hearing American population. According to the FCC: "For individuals whose native language is not English, English language captions have also been used to improve comprehension and fluency in this language. In addition, studies have shown that captions have helped children learn to read, and have improved literacy skills."

In 2002, more than 400,000 South Carolinians suffered from either deafness or hard of hearing. In addition, over 250,000 legal aliens and recently naturalized citizens resided in South Carolina. In 2000, children aged newborn to nine years in South Carolina numbered over 500,000.

Every televised South Carolina Educational Television program reaches potentially 1.15 million South Carolinians (more than one-quarter of the entire state population), for whom closed captioning is not only a beneficial, but absolute, viewing aid.

In the early 1970’s, television programs began being captioned, so that, with the use of a closed caption decoder (which had to be purchased separately and attached to televisions), people with hearing impairments could read what was being aired.

In 1989, the National Captioning Institute developed the first caption-decoding microchip, which could be built directly into new television sets. This led to the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990, which mandated that by July 1993, all new television sets 13 inches or larger manufactured for sale in the U.S. must contain caption-decoding technology.

Effective January 1, 2000, the FCC requires all broadcasters of video programming (television stations, cable operators, satellite providers, etc.) to provide at least 450 hours of captioned programming per calendar quarter, or 5 hours per day. Although this amount is less than 21 percent of a station’s programming hours, the amount of captioned programming required is to increase over the next 6 years:

In addition, the FCC has issued specific rules requiring television programming distributors to make televised emergency programming visually accessible to persons who are deaf and hard of hearing. Examples include hazardous weather situations such as tornadoes, heavy snows, hurricanes and earthquakes, and dangerous community situations such as the discharge of toxic gases, widespread power failures, civil disorders, and school closings.