Telestream has announced that the latest release of its closed captioning software products, MacCaption (for Mac) and CaptionMaker (for Windows), are ready to meet the new FCC rules requiring the captioning of video clips that are posted online.
The FCC recently ruled that existing closed captioning requirements for IP delivered video content will be extended to include individual video clips or segments extracted from shows. The new rules apply to broadcasters and cable and satellite distributors that air programming on television and then post clips of that programming on their own website or via their own mobile app.
“Repurposing TV closed caption data files for internet distribution is more challenging than simply converting one file format to another. Just as audio and video quality is imperative for creating effective content, quality closed captioning must now also be a priority for internet delivery, both for complying with government requirements and for providing an excellent user experience for viewers who rely on accessible technology,” explained Paul Turner, VP of enterprise product management at Telestream.
The company’s CaptionMaker/MacCaption products provide a full set of tools to help TV programmers and distributors create closed captions for popular web and mobile formats including: HTML5, YouTube, Flash, QuickTime, iTunes, and Windows Media. It also converts existing closed captions into web formats.
When used together with the Vantage family of video transcoding and workflow automation solutions, Telestream’s captioning products provide a solution to transcode, convert, troubleshoot, modify, and deploy caption data alongside video – regardless of the delivery platform. In this new version, additional import formats have been added, including SCTE-20, Seachange VANC, and DVD closed captions. This further expands the ability for broadcasters to extract and convert the captions from all types of video archives to newer formats, including internet captions.
