Professionally produced web television is exploding on the Internet. More money is being poured into it, and the quality has increased to the point that web television now has its own version of the Emmys, the Streamys.
Web television may not be the correct term. Increasingly, the term we see being used more and more is "web series." One company is even financing an entire movie to be released online as a web series! In fact, the audience for web television has grown so much that Mashable now releases a monthly list of the top web series.
PROFESSIONAL WEB PRODUCERS - WHO?
Caption Action 2 is learning about the producers of professional web series, and contacting them to ask about captioning. So far, we have contacted five!
Babelgum.com - Babelgum pays for professional video, as reported by Fast Company.
Crackle.com - Crackle.com has 52 original web television series.
MyDamnChannel.com - MyDamnChannel.com recently got an infusion of money. In addition, the company recently released a press release about their new web programming.
NextNewNetworks.com - the company describes itself as "the leading provider of original, episodic series programming for the Internet."
Vuguru.com - this is backed by Michael Eisner, formerly of Disney.
Crackle.com has a FAQ that says at the bottom:
Q: Does Crackle have subtitles or closed captioning?
A: Currently, Crackle does not offer subtitles or closed captioning but please be assured we are working on implementing them into our system.
RESULTS OF CONTACTS
When contacted by Caption Action 2, Crackle.com said "our Product Team is currently working on it. It's certainly something we would like to be able to offer sooner rather than later, but there are also technological issues involved, in terms of what we can make work on our site." Caption Action 2 is trying to get a more definite response as to when Crackle.com will begin captioning.
Likewise, MyDamnChannel.com responded that they had "no plans" to closed caption as of now. Caption Action 2 has not responded yet to MyDamnChannel.com.
What can we do? Congress just passed legislation that will get us guaranteed access to regular television programming on the web, but already, a whole new world of web entertainment is leapfrogging ahead, and we don't have any legal guarantee to captions in this new world! All we can do is ask for, push for, plead for, and demand captions on web series!
It does not matter to Caption Action 2 if a web producer is small. If they can afford to produce professional web series - the key word here is PROFESSIONAL - they can afford to caption!
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This just underlines the fact that there is no general sympathy for those who are already struggling with a disability or any other form of impairment. It is hard to believe that something as basic as captions that would made life easier for millions has to be pondered upon and calculated to such an extent.
ReplyDeleteYou should start an email campaign. Add contact information for these people, and include a suggested email. The more people contact them, the more likely they are to offer captioning.
ReplyDeleteIve been fighting on this issue with Apple (and the new law doesnt apply tp any apple devices by the way!) i have a Facebook group with over a thousand members that contacted Apple on the issue.
All the best for Caption Action 2, Crackle.com team.
ReplyDeleteDutch Translation.
Please put close caption on crackle for X box
ReplyDelete