Captions on TV shows in the US, are regulated by new FCC (Federal Communications Commission) controls since March 2014. The four critical elements are: accuracy, synchronization, completeness, and placement. The accuracy clause means TV stations must give captioners speakers’ names in advance, a challenge since captioners are not paid for prep time. Tips for synchronising content include not using manual ‘hold’ buttons before captions are broadcast, and increasing text volume for captions.
New jobs for realtime captioners are predicted with the completeness clause making teleprompters redundant. Placements need greater collaboration by stations and captioners, with on-screen content visibility being necessary.
Gary Robson, writer of this piece, spoke at TEDxBozeman, on this topic.