Take the TDI TV Captioning Survey
TDI is working on a new Universal Captioning Petition for Federal
Communications Commission (FCC). TDI invites other consumer groups to join
in this petition such as American Association of Deaf Blind (AADB), American
Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), Association of Late-Deafened
Adults (ALDA), California Coalition of Agencies Serving the Deaf and Hard of
Hearing (CCASDHH), Communication Services for the Deaf (CSD), Deaf and Hard
of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network (DHHCAN), Hearing Loss Association of
America (HLAA) and National Association of the Deaf (NAD).
TDI gratefully thanks Carol Harter, Carl Jensema, and Cliff Rowley of the
Tucson Citizens for Better Captioning (TCBC), who has raised important
issues about the availability of real-time captioning for news and weather
programming outside the “Top 25” television markets, or Designated Market
Areas (DMAs). By gathering data from frustrated television viewers who
depend on captioning, TCBC has demonstrated that grassroots advocacy on the
local level does have a major impact on national policy. TDI joins deaf and
hard of hearing viewers everywhere in advocating for more captioning.
Before TDI can submit this petition to the FCC, we want to hear from you.
Your comments will help TDI further address the ongoing need to improve the
quality and availability of television captioning. This is your opportunity
to give your voice and ask the FCC to eliminate the three outdated
TV captioning waivers and exemptions for:
* Programming that air between the hours of 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.
* Commercials airing less than five minutes.
* Live news programming in smaller television markets such as:
o San Diego (CA) #28
o Austin (TX) #44
o New Orleans (LA) #52
o Tucson (AZ) #67
o Des Moines (IA) #73
o Rochester (NY) #81
o Madison (WI) #85
o Sioux Falls (SD) #112
o Erie (PA) #144
o Eugene (OR) #118
o and many other rural towns.
o From: http://www.tvb.org/rcentral/markettrack/US_HH_by_DMA.asp
Your voice will tell the FCC that you want captions on all:
* TV shows, because captions will not bother others who are sleeping in the
middle of the night.
* TV commercials, because captions will help you learn more about products
and services on the market.
* TV newscasts in your hometown, because captions provide full access from
beginning to end including news, weather and sports – just like the “Top 25”
markets anywhere in America.
Please help TDI and other consumer groups by completing this survey, which
should take you no more than five to ten minutes. Feel free to distribute
this survey to your network so other people can respond. The survey will
close Friday, November 12, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. EST. Be assured that all
answers are strictly anonymous as we have absolutely no way of knowing who
completed any of the surveys.
To take the survey, please point your browser to
http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e31o7ehbgeolbg6o/a01d9gftypjdf/questions