Access to Mass Media Mary Watkins Media Access Group WGBH Educational Foundation Boston, Massachusetts U.S.A.

Who We Are and Who We Serve WGBH Educational Foundation –The Largest Producer of television programs and Web content for the Public Broadcasting System in the U.S. –Access Technology Pioneer since 1972 Disabled Audience in U.S. –24 Million Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People –12 Million Blind and Visually Impaired People

Media Access Group at WGBH The Caption Center (est. 1972) –Captions television, home videos, feature films, CD & DVD-ROM Descriptive Video Service (est. 1990) –Describes television, home videos, feature films by inserting key visual elements during pauses in dialogue

Media Access Group at WGBH cont. CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media or NCAM (est. 1993) –Research and development facility, supports national policy decisions, develops technical solutions, conducts research

How Much on Television is Accessible Captioned Television –95% of Broadcast Networks –75% of Cable Networks Described Television –10% of Public Broadcasting programming –80 films in rotation on Turner Classic Movies Cable Network

U.S. Legislation Related to Media Access Television Decoder Circuitry Act (1990) Telecommunications Act (1996) FCC Captioning Mandates (1997) FCC Description Mandates (now under consideration) Information regarding FCC mandates:

Access to the World Wide Web Work with World Wide Web Consortium/Web Accessibility Initiative Web-based distance learning project with MIT Consulting with companies and organizations Media Access Generator (MAGpie)

MAGpie Media Access Generator (MAGpie), enables producers to add captions and descriptions to their multimedia clips Just released and available to download free of charge

Access to Movie Theaters Rear Window® Captioning DVS Theatrical® Installed in conventional theaters, IMAX theaters, DisneyLand and Disney World, National Parks

Access to Digital Television Working with television industry, equipment manufacturers and consumers –Create test materials –Participate on standards committees –Identify needs and offer solutions

Access to Digital Television cont. Enhanced options for displaying captions and broadcasting descriptions –Multiple caption tracks –More user control over font and placement –Stereo descriptions

Public-sector Funding Corporation for Public Broadcasting U.S. Department of Commerce U.S. Department of Education National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research (U.S. Department of Education) National Science Foundation

Private-sector Funding Broadcast and Cable Networks (captioning for television) Corporations, Producers (captioning) Foundations Business Partner Program

Business Partners America Online Bell Atlantic GTE Service Corporation IBM Intel LG Electronics MCI Microsoft Sarnoff Sun Microsystems New York Times Company

A Resource The Media Access Group at WGBH can serve as a resource to those in other countries looking to implement increased access for disabled audiences.

Contact Information Learn more about WGBH’s Access efforts at Contact WGBH for more information: v TTY