Sign this petition and finally make LOVEFiLM take notice about subtitles

A new petition has been launched and its creating a fair bit of interest!

The petition is asking LOVEFiLM to provide information about which of the films for rental have subtitles. At the moment, there is no way of knowing when you order a film if its going to have subtitles. Duff! 

And lots of on demand films or content by them isn't subtitled either which is pretty poor, especially when compared to Netflix which have almost 100% subtitled access, thanks to a court action in the US earlier in the year.

This petition, called LOVEFiLM: All I want for Christmas is Subtitles already has over 500 supporters and its only been around for 24 hours. Problems with  LOVEFiLM aren't new though. See this article from Ni Gallant on PDDCS News news about what she thinks about LOVEFiLM. Not much.

Stephanie McDermid is the organiser of the petition. She says this on the petition page about why you should support the campaign:

Like you I enjoy watching the latest film or must-see TV show. Whether it’s Breaking Bad or the Hunger Games I want to be part of the conversation’s that all of my friends are having. However, as a LoveFilm customer I’m always missing out.

Like most of the people with hearing loss I rely on subtitles. There are over 10million of us in the UK yet as one of the biggest on demand and DVD rental companies, LoveFilm just isn’t accessible to us.

People with Hearing Loss want to be able to watch what they want, when they want, how they want - just like everyone else. However we can’t do that with LoveFilm Instant’s on-demand service as they don’t offer subtitles on any of their titles.

And it’s not just when we’re watching films on our IPad’s, Phones or over the internet. When choosing from LoveFilm’s rental service we can’t even see if the film we are picking has subtitles before it arrives in the post. We’re getting a second class service and this isn’t fair.This Christmas I just want to be able to sit down with my family and enjoy watching a DVD like everyone else. Please help me to get LoveFILM to improve their service for people with hearing loss.

Sign it for yourself here! Then share the petition with your buddies

Deaf Life with Ni Gallant: Love Film? Not without subtitles I don't

Last year Ian Noon, NDCS Campaigns Team member, wrote an interesting piece for the Limping Chicken Deaf news website about TV subtitles – the lack of and the occasional hilarity given to deaf viewers by amusing subtitle fails. You have to admit that as a deaf person at some time or another everyone has been frustrated and let down by subtitles, whether it’s the final of The Apprentice or the consistent lack of sensical subtitles on the BBC news or that you've rented a movie and there are no subtitles with the film.

It’s the last example that I partly wanted to write about. Ian’s article was fantastic at drawing attention to the lack and problems with TV subtitles but it was the comments below about companies such as Love Film that really drew my attention.

I've never actually ordered anything from Love Film before, this is mainly because I know all the deaf related problems associated with it, however my boyfriend’s family have on more than one occasion. You see the problem with Love Film and other companies similar is that although some of their online films (not all! Just some… But at least you can tell.) are now subtitled many of the films that they send out in the post for people to rent are subtitled. And from what I've heard it’s nearly impossible to know beforehand what you’re getting. I can’t imagine anything more frustrating than planning a lovely night in, nice meal or lots of popcorn and then sitting down with your partner; your friends etc. to watch a film you've always wanted to see only to discover there are no subtitles whatsoever.

I’m a fairly patient Deafie but I have to say that if that happened to me I’d be contemplating throwing my TV out the window. How unfair!

A lot of people have questioned whether this lack of subtitles and lack of information actually breaks the 2010 Equality Acts legislation surrounding fair access but from what I can work out Love Film and others like them are American companies, and I doubt they’re subject to our Equality laws. Sad really, I’d love to write them a very stroppy letter. 

Love Film are inconsistent with subtitles says Ni

However it’s not just film rental companies such as Love Film who are letting down deaf customers. Has anyone seen the adverts for YouView? Anybody have a box. Pretty much nothing is subtitled. You can play past programmes and films from iPlayer, 4oD etc. all of which are subtitled online but none of which have a subtitle option through YouView. 

According to Action on Hearing Loss there are 9 million deaf or hard of hearing people in the UK. Now that’s a pretty big market to be letting down as far as I’m concerned… That’s bigger than the population of London apparently. Imagine the impact if the whole of London suddenly stopped watching TV! Come of Love Film, the BBC, YouView and everyone else! Where are our subtitles?!

Help improve the Subtitled Cinema Experience

Subtitled cinema would you like to help improve the Subtitled Cinema Experience for people with hearing loss?

"Would you like to be part of the first UK audience to try out new 'personal' cinema subtitling technology?

Are you available to attend a free screening of the latest Disney movie 'Wreck it Ralph' (with free popcorn & drink) at a central London cinema on Sun 17th March from 10am-1.30pm?

If interested, please apply for a ticket before Wed 20th Feb (places are limited) by completing the 2 minute survey" through the link below

https://yourlocalcinema.wufoo.eu/forms/cinema-exhibitors-association/ 

The future of subtitles is in your hands

In 1926 John Logie Baird enabled the very wealthy to access television. Television was an amazing breakthrough in technology at that time. Over the decades the technology has advanced from colour sets to HD quality and more recently 3D viewing. All of which can be accessible from the comfort of most homes. However the subtitling quality has failed to develop to the same standards.

Action on Hearing Loss are still on the case. Last July AOHL carried out a subtitling survey.  Now they are asking for your assistance to Influence the Communications Bill .

How? ......write to your MP

Let your MP know how important subtitles are to people with hearing loss and encourage your MP to champion the needs of people with hearing loss as the Government’s communications review progresses into the next stage.

Do remember to continue to complain directly to the broadcaster every time a problem with subtitling or background noise is experienced.

Subtitling survey - Action On Hearing Loss

Leading national deaf charity, Action on Hearing Loss, are inviting TV viewers to take part in a major survey which aims to identify problems within the television network that may affect the quality of subtitling.

Earlier this year PDDCS news posted a link to the article of  just one example of bad subtitling - the ITV show 'Dancing on Ice' which had left subtitle reading viewers completely baffled.

The results will be shared with TV regulator Ofcom. To acess the survey click here and use it every time you experience a problem.

BSL Zone - BSLBT's new website

Today BSLBT have announced their new website www.bslzone.co.uk .

With their new BSL Zone player you can watch all their programmes on their  website; subtitles are also available.

Check out the site.

Bad (and humourous) Subtitling Mistakes in the Headlines

The NDCS mothership made the news this week after their campaign about poor live subtitling hit the headlines with the Daily Mail.

The ITV show 'Dancing on Ice' was singled out for particular criticism following a string of horrendous mistakes which would have left subtitle reading viewers completely baffled and wondering, if the image above is anything to go by, if Dancing on Ice was about to melt.

Check out the article here: 

Accessible cinema

http://www.yourlocalcinema.com/now.showing.html
Click the link to check out access to cinemas for people with sensory impairments

Imagine every film at the cinema had subtitles..if you wanted them?

News broke on Thursday morning that Sony has been developing some electronic glasses that can add the subtitles to a film, visible only to those who are wearing the glasses. This opens the exciting possibility that deaf people could access subtitles at the cinema for all films, at any time. 

Another exciting application of these glasses could be using voice to text software to provide deaf people with subtitles to real-life conversation. Check out this BBC video, featuring Charlie Swinbourne, (with subtitles) and also the this Tech Radar article.

Hat-tip: Dave Norris.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Subtitled

Tonight at Showcase Cinema in Peterborough at 7.15 - Subtitled showing of The Rise of the Planet of the Apes!

Read a review here

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 - Subtitled showing this Tuesday at Showcase

This Tuesday, 31st May, the new Pirates of the Caribbean film is showing at the Showcase Cinema at 7pm with subtitles! If you want to see Jonny Depp or Penelope Cruz in action then come along.

Word has it there will be a few from the PDDCS going so it would be good to see as many of you there as possible. We're not paying for admission for this event though.

For more information on films with captions, have a look at http://www.yourlocalcinema.com/ and you can sign up to their email mailing list to get the latest film info straight to your inbox.

Expect to see more film information on this website...