- Date: 12 Oct 2012
Netflix, the popular US-based video on demand service, has reached an agreement with the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) to provide 100 per cent of its content with captions by 2014.
In 2010, the NAD, the Western Massachusetts Association of the Deaf and Hearing Impaired, and Lee Nettles brought a suit against Netflix for its lack of captioning. Since then, Netflix has increased its captioning levels so that 90 per cent of content currently being viewed has captions. Increasing this to 100 per cent is a significant victory for the Deaf and hearing impaired, and in important step in the ongoing struggle to make online video content accessible.
The CEO of the NAD, Howard A. Rosenblum, said, "The National Association of the Deaf congratulates Netflix for committing to 100 per cent captioning, and is thrilled to announce that 48 million deaf and hard of hearing people will be able to fully access Netflix's Watch Instantly services."
In the lead-up to 100 per cent captioning being achieved, Netflix has also agreed to improve its user interface to make it easier for people to identify which movies and TV shows have captions.
For more information about the Netflix agreement, see the NAD's media release. Netflix is not yet available in Australia.
This article is adapted from Netflix to caption 100% of its content, published on Media Access Australia. Access iQ™ is an initiative of Media Access Australia, Australia's only independent not-for-profit organisation who advocates for equal access to media and technology for users of all abilities.