VITAC to Caption Old Television Series

December 2000

Editor: Are you a fan of Perry Mason, Batman, or the Real McCoys? Fellow boomers who fondly remember these television shows may be unable to enjoy them today, because they are not captioned. That's about to change. VITAC has announced a continuation of a Department of Education grant to caption television series that were released before captioning was available. Here are portions of their press release.

~~~~~~~~

WordWave's VITAC Division, the industry leader in broadcast captioning, today announced that it has received approval for a second year of funding from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to caption popular television series that originally aired before closed captioning was available. Television shows including Gomer Pyle, Perry Mason, the Batman series and The Real McCoys will now be accessible for the first time to the millions of viewers that are deaf or hard of hearing.

The captioned television shows, which are selected by VITAC's clients and Caption Viewers Advisory Panel, will be shown in syndication on various television networks. WordWave's VITAC division will also caption 240 movies for the Sci-Fi Channel, Lifetime and Screen Ventures as well as newer series including Remington Steele, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Christy and Win Ben Stein's Money.

WordWave's VITAC division has captioned a number of other series for syndication, including Mission: Impossible, The Odd Couple, Laverne & Shirley, the Three Stooges, Mama's Family, The Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days, Hawaii Five-O and The Lucy Show. The DOE has awarded funding via two syndication grants. The first DOE grant funds 69% or $342,303 of the captioning costs for various programming while private-sector support totals $151,987 (31%). The second grant totals $177,750 (73%) and private-sector support totals $67, 290 (27%).

More than 120 million Americans benefit from closed captioning of entertainment and informational programming broadcast on television. The beneficiaries of captioning include the deaf and hard of hearing community, viewers in noisy environments such as restaurants and gyms, people learning to improve their reading skills and speakers of English as a second language.

For additional information, contact Laura Doty, VITAC Marketing Supervisor (laura-d@vitac.com) or visit their website (www.vitac.com)