Effective August 1, 2016, a new law authored by Minnesota politician Brian Daniels now requires all televisions in common areas at medical facilities in Minnesota to turn on the closed captioning feature. Continue reading
Aberdeen Implements Tachyon’s Software-based Standards Conversion
Aberdeen Broadcast Services completes implementation of industry leading standards conversion software Tachyon.
The quality of our client’s programs is at the forefront of everything we do at Aberdeen. Adding CinnaFilm’s Tachyon product to our digital encoding workflows means higher quality frame rate conversions for those requiring international delivery or a 24P adaptation for broadcast. Currently, Aberdeen encodes and delivers thousands of standards converted programs per month to over 400 broadcast outlets all over the world. This latest technology advancement allows Aberdeen to further increase the quality of the programs we distribute. Continue reading
Hillsong Church Launches New 24/7 TV Channel
Today, in a partnership with Trinity Broadcasting Network, Hillsong Church has launched The Hillsong Channel. The 24-hour channel will feature Hillsong Church’s globally recognized worship performances, conferences, documentaries, children’s programming, talk shows, and messages from Christian leaders – including Hillsong Senior Pastor Brian Houston and wife Bobbi Houston. Continue reading
GEB America: 2016 Full Power TV Station of the Year
Aberdeen would like to extend our heartfelt praises to our client, and trusted AberFast station partner, GEB America on being the recipient for the 2016 Full Power TV Station of the Year Award presented at NRB Proclaim conference last month. The award was given as part of NRB’s Annual Media Awards program, which honors and celebrates excellence in production, service to the community, faithfulness to the mission, commitment to the Gospel, and personal integrity.
March 2 is Read Captions Across America Day!
Many people know about Read Across America day. Every year on March 2 (Dr. Seuss’ birthday), kids head off to school (sometimes in their pajamas!) and they celebrate reading. Teachers set up cozy areas of the classroom where kids can relax and get lost in their favorite books.
But have you heard of Read Captions Across America? It is celebrated just like Read Across America but with an added twist—kids are encouraged to “read” educational programing that has the closed captioning turned on. The purpose is to raise awareness that closed captioning can promote literacy and foster reading skills. This celebration was founded by the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) in partnership with the National Education Association. Continue reading
NAD and Gogo Vision Agree on In-flight Closed Captioning Partnership
Gogo Business Aviation, in its continuing efforts to be the leading provider of in-flight entertainment, has made an admirable step towards accessibility with an agreement with the US National Association of the Deaf (NAD) to add closed captioning to their on-demand streaming service, Gogo Vision. Despite the Department of Transportation’s directive on the presence of closed captioning on video monitors in airport terminals, this agreement is the first of its kind with an in-flight entertainment company. Continue reading
W3C Receives an Emmy Award for Contributions to Online Captioning
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the global web-standards organization, accepted an Emmy Award earlier this month for their work developing standards to make video content more accessible on the web with text captioning and subtitling. In the category of “Standardization and Pioneering Development of Non-live Broadcast Captioning,” the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has recognized W3C’s development of Timed Text Markup Language (TTML). Continue reading
Hawaii Movie Theaters Become First in the Nation to Require Open Captions
Not shortly after Portland became the first state to require enabled captions in all public establishments, Hawaii has just become the first state in the nation to recognize the importance of accommodating a positive movie-going experience for the deaf and hard of hearing. The bill, introduced by Kauai Representative and father of a hearing impaired son, James Tokioka, was signed into law by Governor David Ige and is now in effect as January 1, 2016. Continue reading
Time to Turn on the Captions in Portland
It’s official. Starting today, the City of Portland, Oregon, will require all televisions visible in public establishments to activate the closed caption function. Prompted by a complaint from accessibility activists that they were often met with resistance when requesting closed captions in local restaurants and bars, the Portland City Council met and passed the ordinance on November 18th, 2015 with a unanimous 5-0 decision. Continue reading
FCC Roundtable: Closed Captioning PEG Programming
On November 10, 2015, the FCC held a roundtable event concentrating on the accessibility of public, educational, and government (PEG) video programming. With the increasing number of local governments and educational institutions feeling the pressure to become compliant, this all-day event was focused on promoting a discussion on the benefits, best practices, current obligations, and solutions – both technical and financial – of adding closed captioning to PEG video programming. The event was comprised of local government professionals, policy makers, captioning vendors, consumer groups, engineers, and others working in applicable fields of video programming. Continue reading
