- Why can't I see closed captioning on my TV?
- How come some shows are captioned and some are not?
- The captions on my TV disappear every once in a while. Why?
- Sometimes the captioning becomes scrambled, strange characters or symbols appear, or the captions jump across the screen and change colors? What is happening?
Q: Why can't I see closed captioning on my TV?
A: There are several reasons why closed captioning won't appear on a TV set:
- TV sets built prior to July 1993 need an external closed captioning decoder in order for the captions to be viewed. If you don't have a decoder, you won't be able to view closed captioning. Check your local electronics store for available closed captioning decoder devices.
- TV sets built after July 1993 have a closed captioning decoder chip embedded within their circuitry. If you are not seeing closed captions, the feature has not been enabled. To enable closed captioning, select the feature using the Menu button on your remote control, or check the TV set manual for directions on how to enable closed captioning.
- The program you are watching is not closed captioned. Contact the network broadcasting the program and request that it be closed captioned.
- A mechanical problem may be preventing the closed captioning signal from being rendered on your TV screen. Be sure all connecting cables are secured tightly to your TV set. If you have an external decoder, make sure it is turned on. If you previously were able to view closed captioning and it stopped, call your cable or satellite TV provider and report the problem. If all else fails, contact the TV set or decoding device manufacturer for more information.
Q: How come some shows are captioned and some are not?
A: Current FCC rules currently do not require 100% closed captioning of all broadcast television programming (see CapFAQ #3). Some types of programming may be exempt from federally required closed captioning (see CapFAQ #4). Network programmers currently are required to provide closed captioning for a certain amount of programming hours, and they choose which time blocks or programs to have closed captioning.
Contact the station programmer to request closed captioning for a particular program, or to request that they increase the amount of programming that is closed captioned. Contact the FCC regarding networks or TV stations that you feel are not meeting their closed captioning requirements.
(For information on how to send a complaint about the distribution of closed captioning to the FCC, click here.)
Q: The captions on my TV disappear every once in a while. Why?
A: A variety of factors can interrupt the video signal sent to your TV set. Cable company employees working on a cable line in your neighborhood can disrupt the video signal, causing the closed captioning data to be lost. In-process upgrades to the infrastructure that carries and transmits TV signals to and from cable and satellite TV providers also temporarily may separate the closed captioning data stream from the video signal. Malfunctioning equipment, such as your cable provider's head-end equipment, also may affect the caption signal on a specific channel.
To rectify the situation, first contact your cable company or satellite TV provider if you are unable to receive your TV signal with closed captioning. If they confirm the problem is not arising with their equipment, contact the broadcast or cable network you are having a problem receiving captions on.
Q: Sometimes the captioning becomes scrambled, strange characters or symbols appear, or the captions jump across the screen and change colors? What is happening?
A: Garbled captions can be caused by many factors: poor signal quality, line disruptions, failed or malfunctioning equipment, environmental factors, or plain old-fashioned human error.
- Poor Signal Quality can disrupt the closed captioning data stream, causing the consumer's caption decoder to misread the signal and render words into gibberish, or change letters into symbols or blank white squares. This caption problem may be due to a problem with the program providers' or cable companies' video signal, transmitters or receivers.
- Line Disruptions can be caused by something as simple as routine maintenance of the cable line in your neighborhood, or as complex as an earthquake or other disaster on the opposite end of the country. If the signal travelling along the cable line that is fed into your home is disconnected from its source feed, no matter how short the duration, the closed captioning data stream will be interrupted, causing the captions to be garbled or jump positions.
- Failed or Malfunctioning Equipment, such as modems, transmitters or receivers, also can disrupt the closed captioning signal. There are several dozen separate pieces of equipment that handle the programming signal as it travels from the producers to the network to your TV set: modems, encoders, decoders and even the sets themselves can and will fail due to age or other factors. Equipment failure in a cable head-end, for example, will cause decoders to misread the captioning signal or drop it altogether. On occasion, a line amplifier serving a specific neighborhood in a cable company's service area may need to be replaced, and the viewer may experience a problem with closed captioning on all channels as a result.
- Environmental Factors separate from the realm of human activity can affect the quality of closed captioning. Sunspots can interrupt the broadcast signal and cause garbled characters (particularly during the spring and fall), as can an earthquake or hurricane that strikes a major broadcasting center. Satellite failures also can disrupt the signal between transmitters and receivers.
- Human Error, finally, can affect the quality of the closed captioning you see on your TV set. Spoken words miskeyed by captioners may appear as misspellings, or as a different word altogether. Even at 99% accuracy, during a typical hour-long newscast, some errors may appear if the captioner is captioning difficult terminology and/or challenging speakers.