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Closed Captioning is Now required by ALL TV Statioons
I air infomercials on every NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX station and as of last week ALL the TV stations are now demanding that every infomercial and every commercial be Closed Caption.
I looked into different solutions to this using a Media100:
1)Spend $300 per infomercial to add CC
2)Buy MacCaption for $5,000
3)Buy a used line 21 encoder box on eBay
4)Write the software myself since I program in xcodeIt isn’t that hard to actually write a program in xcode on the MAc or C++ on the PC to add CC data to line 21 of a Quicktime file–I estimate it would take me about 2 weeks because it requires a lot of back and forth testing of the code which is slow and time consuming. So I may do this in my spare time…
Whether you use MacCaption or an outside company to do it for you, you will STILL have to add the CC file to your video. To do this you MUST use Adobe AfterEffects–you can’t add it directly in the Media 100 because it takes too long to render and craps out half the time while rendering. You must export a single Quicktime file of your infomercial and import that and the CC file into AE and then create a mask for the CC file and output a new QT file that you then re-import into the M100 as a single video track. It works fine.
MacCaption doesn’t write the CC data directly to line 21, the program (they have a patent) create a video representation of the CC data that is added to the scan equivalent of line 21 and it works fine. But it is also NOT that hard to write line 21 data to a video data stream and it would be nice to see this added as an option to Media 100 since all TV stations NOW require it.
The Infomercial King
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26 Replies
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There are several programs available in the market that range in price from $5,000 to $9,000 both with and without hardware. I consider thsi too expensive a price to do something that should have been included for FREE in the NLS sysyems to begin with.
Source code for the PC platform to do this has already been published for free to add line 21 to video data stream of Microsoft’s TV format for DVDs.
I am hoping that now that the demand has increased for this, we will see some $30 programs to do.
The Infomercial King
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It’s not the TV stations It’s the FCC
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I stand corrected. It is the FCC.
I think there should be a law that adds Closed Captioning for people with disabilities. But I think that the government should have implemented one of several other methods that would be much less expensive and easier or they should have worked with industry to provide the means.
There are a lot of producers who can’t afford to spend $5,000 to $9,000 to do this in-house.
By the way, I tried several ways to do captioningn and I must say that using an external line 21 encoder is the best method with the best results. The software only approaches I tried gave crappy results!
My suggestion so far is to either send it out for $300 or to buy an encoder box and NOT to use a software only approach.
None of the software I lookled at writes the byte codes directly to line 21 and I am working with several programmers–I program in xcode myself to write a program that will write this directly which would be the best solution.
The Infomercial King
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I suggest you have a look at what the regulations really are.
https://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/caption.html
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I have read it several times. If you have a point to make, why don’t you make your point so everyone can understand what you are trying to say.
The regualtions are very clear and when the stations tell me they won’t accept tapes without Closed Captioning that is a message that is certainly clear as compared with your cryptic posting.
So what is your point?
The Infomercial King
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My cryptic posting?
I just suggested you re-read the FCC guidelines on Closed Captioning.So what’s my point?
The point is, there are clear exceptions laid out by the FCC… Section 79.1(d) & Section 79.1(f) for example.Now I don’t know if the expense of having to provide closed captioned material would be considered an undue burden on say a small edit shop with a used media100 and a bvw-50.
But I wouldn’t think the expense would be that big of a deal for someone like you. I mean after-all, you are “The Infomercial King”.
And by one of your other postings…..InfomercialKing:
…I buy and trade half hour blocks of television time. The average cost of a HALF HOUR of TV time on any NBC, ABC, CBS or FOX station for me is from $50 to $500 for any time slot (avail)…One project I am about to launch is to use a half hour infomercial to promote a film. I believe that as little as $10,000 of infomercial time on national cable can generate at least $10 million in direct video sales based on my testing so far….
It sounds to me like you are rolling in the dough, and the cost of closed captioning should be a drop in the bucket!
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There are NO exceptions! To even apply for an exception takes months to over 1 year for a response and it would be hard to argue that you can’t afford to Closed Caption something when you are buying millions of dollars worth of TV time. So your suggestion is misleading and NOT even an option.
In fact, the FCC has stated that NO exceptions will be made for commercials so your suggestion is is misleading to other readers who think that they might not have to do it.
Further, when a station says they want a tape closed captioned, then you had better send it closed captioned ot it will not air.
The Infomercial King
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[InfomercialKing] “There are NO exceptions!”
According to the FCC there are exceptions, and they provide a whole section on just that information, from time of day exclusions to yada yada…
But then again I’m not a lawyer.[InfomercialKing] “it would be hard to argue that you can’t afford to Closed Caption something when you are buying millions of dollars worth of TV time. So your suggestion is misleading and NOT even an option.”
So then what is the POINT of your posts?
If you are buying millions of dollars worth of TV time, why not just spend the money and buy what you need to caption?
It’s a business expense, right it off, depreciate it on a schedule.
Or have the captioning done out of house, and charge your client for the expense just like you would for editing or any other service.
And make everyone happy, instead of crying about it. -
I made my fortune by EARNING it and not by throwing away $300 per tape to do captioning! I will take the time to write the software myself which I can do because I am an expert in xcode and Quicktime, but it would be nice if I can connect with other programmers who would like to join in my efforts so we can make captioning affordable for everyone.
I will NOT throw awy $5,000 on siftware that should cost $30 or be free!
I the next few months the impact from this will start hitting all of the small production companies who can’t afford to spend $300 per tape because their clients won’t pay it for a 2 minute commercial.
The Infomercial King
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Is this mandatory CC for just broadcast or cable also?
Ernie Santella
Santella Film/Video Productions
http://www.santellaproductions.com
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