Letter to Netflix

Last night, my boyfriend and I tried to watch a movie on a new blueray player using the Netflix Watch Instantly service, only to sadly find that closed captioning wasn't part of the service. It ticked me off, so today I wrote the following letter to the Chief Product Officer at Netflix:

Mr. Hunt,

Over one year ago today, you posted the following article:

http://blog.netflix.com/2009/06/closed-captions-and-subtitles.html

This article briefly details the issues that Netflix has encountered while working to add closed captioning to its media. The first paragraph states, “Captioning is in our development plans but is about a year away.” It has now been over thirteen months since that post. What is the update? Mr. Hunt, I want you to know that I am not a technologically-ignorant consumer who believes that all things technical can change or be created in the blink of an eye. I was part of the development team that built our company’s software systems, and I know that quality work takes time. But the backend technology is out there, and I believe that it tarnishes Netflix’s image when so many other companies are able to provide this service. Please understand that the anger and backlash ultimately comes from frustration and embarrassment. When a group of people want to get together and watch a Netflix movie, the hard-of-hearing or deaf friends are excluded because they cannot understand or hear the movie or show. Closed captioning is not a luxury; it is an absolute necessity for anyone wanting to enjoy modern media who does not have ‘normal’ hearing.

I had a Netflix account in the past but canceled it because of the lack of closed captioning. Recently, I purchased a blueray player with the option to use the Netflix Watch Instantly service, but I have not activated an account as it would be useless to me without the closed captioning. Though I have been discouraged and doubtful, I hope that I will receive a response from you that will show progress and hopefully a solution to this longstanding problem.


I appreciate your efforts, and hope that we’ll have a solution soon.

Best,

(me)


I am sad that I had to do this at all. Netflix is a huge corporation, and companies like YouTube and Google have already handled the issue. Why is Netflix blowing us off? I debated the idea of an ACLU-style lawsuit, but I don't think I have the energy, and I'd certainly have to work with a lawyer that knows those processes and the ADA in order to do it - I just don't know what to think. I'll bounce the idea off of a few people to see what they think, and who knows... maybe I'll do it.

UPDATE:

I got a response from Neil Hunt at Netflix. His email reads:

Our computer-based players (PC and Mac) have supported captions since late Q1:
















As I indicated, getting the capability into devices has taken longer; there will be a Wii and a PS3 update this fall that will include similar capabilities for those platforms, X box probably November, although not confirmed, and our SDK that goes to OEMs that make BD players and TVs now includes this as a feature (that will probably take 3-9 months to reflect in new products).

Obtaining the caption data has proven harder. We have a few hundred titles, skewed towards TV shows, where the studio or network has been able to provide us with caption data. We cannot reliably use DVD caption data, since (a) it is in the form of graphical overlays, not text, and (b) it often doesn’t conform (in timing) to the specific cut we have – especially on TV shows, where the ad-black varies in length across different media. We are now working with the National Center for Media Accessibility to re-master captions where necessary, with a goal of 1,000 of the most popular content with captions by the end of this quarter, and growing from there.

N

A letter

A new development in my life is that I am going back to school soon, and I have to prepare for it. One thing that I have to do for "reinstatement" (since I've been away for a while) is to write a letter explaining why I left in the first place, what has changed, and what my new plans are. A big part of that letter is going to be my hearing loss. It's a big hard to 'face the music' so to speak by writing it down. When I write about the problem, it's concrete - it's impossible to avoid, because there it is, size twelve Times New Roman black-on-white details of my flaw.

But, no matter. I am actually started to feel excited about going back to school. It will be a new experience, as I'll have to register with the Disabled Students Program in order to get the notetaker that is provided by the state. It will be odd to have that classification, but I have to remember to own it - this is what will help me push forward and progress.

This will be a whole new world, and I'm excited about it.

Life Without Noise

The world is loud. To some people, it is a lot louder than for others. I'm one of those others.

I'm Katie. I'm 60% deaf, and have been living with hearing loss for a few years now. I wanted to start a blog to share the experiences and lessons that only come from losing a majority of your hearing, and I have a bit of a hope that maybe my stories will help someone else going through the same issue to deal with it a little more smoothly.

First of all, the history.

I grew up a fairly normal girl. Tomboyish, adventure-seeking, stubborn and sassy. When I was thirteen and my brother was ten, he started to lose his hearing. I felt bad for him, but didn't know really how to handle it. He got hearing aids but never wore them because they were bulky, "uncool" and embarrassing. In college, I noticed that I occasionally wasn't hearing things as well as I used to. As time went on, and the problem worsened, I knew that there was a definite problem, but I was too embarrassed to deal with it. I ignored the issue and lived in denial for a while, but finally in July of 2008, I bit the bullet and went to an audiologist. That was when I found out that my hearing was definitely declining, and was on its way to matching my brother's hearing loss pattern, which is 60-70% loss. I was upset, shell shocked by getting my suspicions confirmed, and wanted to blame someone. One month later my new hearing aids arrived. I didn't quite know what to think of them, but I decided to give it a go. A year later, in July of 2009, I went back for another audiology exam. Sure enough, my hearing had declined to 60% loss - almost exactly the same as my brother's. It was at that point that I realized what I needed to do. I needed to own my hearing. I couldn't hide from it any more. I wouldn't make it entirely who I was, but it was certainly a part of me and I wasn't going to hide it. Since then, I've had my ups and downs, but I'll wear my hearing aids without being embarrassed and have no problem telling people to speak up. It's been a trying and empowering experience.

The posts to follow will include everything from random insights, amusing stories and relevant research. I am still in the phase of trying to figure out what caused my hearing loss, but I have learned to be patient. I keep an eye on all possibly applicable research, and I'll share that with you.