Tech Shout!

AOL announced that it is now testing closed captions for streaming news content from CNN that will help to enhance the online media experience for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Captioned CNN video content will be available throughout the AOL network, including the AOL service, the free AOL.com Web portal and the AOL Video portal.

AOL began offering closed captioning in 2003 for select content on its KOL service for kids aged 6 to 12, including “Princess Natasha”, the original cartoon series created exclusively for KOL. AOL also offered synchronized text transcripts for CNN news updates that were limited to the text of a news anchor’s script.

The company said that from now on, content from CNN, including videos for the day’s headlines, current events, new stories, entertainment and more, will be manually captioned to ensure all of the audio in a video stream is completely accessible. AOL plans to provide closed captioning for additional video content over the coming months.

AOL has been working on this initiative with WGBH’s Media Access Group, the organization behind the development of technologies and services that make all forms of media accessible to around 36 million Americans who rely on captioning or video descriptions. This work was also supported by a grant to WGBH from NEC Foundation of America, which supports programs with national reach and impact in assistive technology for people with disabilities.

“Online captioning is a central accessibility issue for the deaf community and hard-of-hearing community and we are excited to be at the forefront of the movement,” said Tom Wlodkowski, Director of Accessibility, for AOL. “Key to our progress has been our collaboration with WGBH and support from content partners such as CNN. We look forward to working with additional content providers to expand the availability of captioned video content across the AOL network.”

“Offering consumers a complete and comprehensive online video experience is one of AOL’s top priorities and a big part of that is providing them with a top-notch playback experience,” said Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President, for AOL. “Closed captioning unlocks a new world for millions of consumers who, until now, have been unable to fully experience viewing videos online.”

Similar to closed captioning for television, AOL captions are displayed directly beneath the video window and correspond to the audio content. Activating the captions is easy and convenient with a simple click on the “CC” button that appears on AOL’s media player.

“The League for the Hard of Hearing congratulates AOL on their initiative to produce and deliver closed captions for video assets. Captions are an essential tool for deaf and hard of hearing people and now AOL’s captioned videos will enable them to better comprehend what they’re seeing and hearing on the Web,” said Joseph Gordon, Committee Chair, for the League for the Hard of Hearing. “This is a major step forward in the company’s implementation of products and services for consumers with disabilities and is coherent with accessibility principles.”

The minimum system requirements to view closed captioned videos are:

Operating System: Windows 2000 SP4; Windows XP SP1, SP2; Windows XP MCE 2005; and Win XP MCE 2005 rollup 2.

Media Player: Windows Media Player version 7.1 or higher.

Browser: Internet Explorer version 6.0 or higher; Firefox version 1.07 or higher; Netscape 7.2 or higher; AOL Explorer version 1.1 or higher.