OCR Text |
Show Coordinated effort Closed-captions new to ABC, NBC and PBS Most viewers never know the difference, but some 20 hours of prime-time programming program-ming on ABC. NBC and PBS are now being "closed-captioned" "closed-captioned" for the deaf and hearing-impaired. This means that persons with a hearing problem may purchase a captioning adaptor (Sears, lloebuck & Co. advertises adver-tises it nwtrketod under the name "TrleCaption" in their spring-summer catalogue) cata-logue) in order to watch television tele-vision and read the dialogue much in the way foreign films have subtitles. The adapter, which retails for about $250 and can be attached to any television sot, receives the transmission signals sig-nals of programs that include the captioning. Because the captions are in the form of an electronic code, they are visible visi-ble only to viewers with the adapters; sots not so equipped are not affected, hence the term "closod-captioning." In order to prepare a program pro-gram for captioning, the not-work not-work furnishes one of the National Captioning Institute's Insti-tute's centers (located in Falls Church, Va., and Hollywood, Calif.) with a cassette of the program prior to air date. The center encodes the program dialogue into captions that are recorded on a magnetic disc. The disc is returned to the networks where it is inserted electronically into the television televi-sion picture and then transmitted along with the1 C t This is the symbol adopted by the National Cap- 1 1 J Honing Institute to indicate those programs being I " .' " - closed-captioned. 1 -U - , j - U i 1 ' , '' I i ' - " . - 5? ' i . ' - 1 - i .... I ' " - j " -""'." -" - i j h i f 1 v ' - f ? .: H.j . . ..v - . , t . . r.. n . . 3-;,-.; . -Li j .. .. . . ,.-. , ' --v. A TrleCaption adapter enables any television set to display captions cap-tions on selected shows that will be broadcast on ABC, NBC and PBS. Sets not equipped with the adapter will not be aftected. normal video and audio portions por-tions of the program. NCI has coordinated the efforts of ABC. NBC and PBS so that all throe broadcasters will have a minimum of schedule conflicts, thus ' enabling the hearing-impaired to take fullest advantage of the project. Programs will be identified in TV listings with the words "closed-captioned" (or simply "C-C") and-or the svmbol shown at the end of this article. The cost to the networks is about $750,000 each, which includes the cost of captioning, caption-ing, additional transmission and other ancillary costs. The NCI plans to work with the Lion's Club International and the National PTA to arrange for financial aid to those individuals indi-viduals unable to afford the adapter. The programs currently selected to be made available with the captioning are as follows: On ABC: "Eight Is Enough," "Vega$," "Barney Miller," "Three's Company" and "The ABC Sunday Night Movie." On NBC: "Disnov's Wonderful Wonder-ful World," "NB'C Monday Night at the Movies," "United States," "Real People" and "Diff'rent Strokes." And on PBS: "Masterpiece Theater," "Once Upon a Classic," "Odyssey," "Nova" and "Mystery!" All three will also closed-caption closed-caption certain specials, when possible. CBS is conspicuously absent from the group of broadcasters broadcast-ers that is working with the NCI. That network is holding out while it tests an adapter that receives many different electronic signals, rather than one limited to captions only. This type of teletext system, as it's called, would provide multiple uses for the general audience as well as the hearing-impaired. CBS is currently current-ly conducting tests of the system. |