DTV and Captioning

CSD Partners to Create Survey to Address Nationwide DTV Related Captioning Issues

CSD will compile survey statistics and submit to the FCC as part of the ongoing CSD-DTV Transition Project.



SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (March 30, 2009) -- In January, CSD announced that it had been awarded a contract from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to implement an awareness campaign targeted at the nation's deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind consumers in regards to the digital TV (DTV) transition. To that end, CSD launched both a Help Center (call center) and a new Web site to provide DTV information and to help consumers solve their problems procuring coupons, installing converter boxes, choosing the best antenna for their geographic locale, and even more.

This innovative Help Center call can receive traditional phone calls, and also TTY, relay, video relay, videophone, and CapTel calls. This means that regardless of the level of hearing loss, the Help Center is equipped to handle any call type preference.

Although not a stipulation of the FCC contract, CSD and specific project partners -- the National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH, the National Association of the Deaf, the Hearing Loss Association of America and a representative of the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology -- have developed a closed captioning survey to further address captioning issues around the nation. At the end of the survey project, CSD's collected data will be shared with the FCC to assist them in the myriad of captioning problems currently affecting deaf and hard of hearing consumers.

The survey is broken down into four main sections: General Information, Isolating the Problem, Signal Path (how the signal is received), and Equipment Type. Those without Internet access can call (877) 388-4968 and a Help Center agent will assist them with the survey.

From the onset of the DTV transition, CSD anticipated that a high percentage of the incoming queries would relate to captioning issues. Considering there is an estimated 118 million current captioning users in the U.S. (National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Health Statistics), CSD was aware of the importance of documenting these captioning issues. Understanding where problems are happening at the national level or where they cluster geographically allows feedback to be directed to the proper entities.

"The issue of captioning problems came to a head when approximately 421 stations transitioned nationwide on one day, Feb. 17," said Benjamin Soukup, CSD chief executive officer. "From that point on, deaf and hard of hearing consumers have been contacting the FCC and TV stations directly, imploring them to address these captioning glitches. This survey should arm the FCC with information that doesn't come from the industry or TV stations, but directly from those frustrated consumers."

To take the survey, find out how to contact CSD's Help Center, and locate the answer to other various DTV transition questions, go here. To contact the FCC directly with captioning concerns, go here .