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I would really like to see the hearing people who are commenting and making a case against captioning/subtitling wear a pair of ear plugs for a weekend and see how fun it is not to have access to communication. I venture to guess you would change your mind about this issue by the end of the weekend. You will never know how much you take your hearing for granted until you lose it.


I just wanted to throw this out there, i was driving home from work yesterday and saw a sign that said "We're proud to be deaf"

Anyway you're making a lot of assumptions on how easily it can be done. Which is just ignorant if you ask me. If you're not a computer science major who is also head of the Netflix copyright department, then how would you know?

Also, whoever is ignorant thinking that EVERYONE is able to read..

So my point is missed again..
There is probably at least one person in this world who can't watch netflix because of the red background color, because they have erythryphobia (fear of red).. and thousands of other "disabilities" that would prevent someone from enjoying netflix.. And my question is.. WHERE ARE THE CAMPAIGNS FOR THOSE PEOPLE?

If you cared about equal rights, you'd care to fix all these issues.

So stop throwing around the phrase "equal rights" you don't want equal rights.. you want deaf people to be able to enjoy netflix with closed captioning.. EQUAL RIGHTS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

And with that being said.. i hope netflix puts CC on their movies.. Or for a giggle, i hope they put them in Japanese, and tell you to learn Japanese.. It'd really give you a lesson in "Equal rights"

To: Michele
I know you're not talking specifically to me.. but how do you know I'm not deaf? You really don't. Nor do you know if anyone in here is deaf/not deaf.

And again, this isn't about being deaf, we know, it probably sucks.. But.. If being deaf is the worst thing in your life.. You have a pretty good life.


I would know because I prepare captioned videos on a regular basis using free software, a low end computer and a DVD. I can then post them on you tube using a simple web browser (I don't due to the legal issue). I have never taken a computer class so don't insult any of us by implying that it would be ignorant to assume a very basic truth. The fact is Netflix already has been given the license to stream the movie and they should be able to stream the captions that were already prepared for said movie. If there is a copyright issue regarding captions they should certainly use that in their defense.
I know you were being humorous but if there is a group for people with "red" phobia they certainly would have the right to try and sue and have the envelopes changed to a different color. I do not know if Phobias are classified as a disability so forgive me for not deliving further into it but to answer for your question of Where are the campaigns for those people?

Well simply put just because a blind man choose not to fight for his right to access doesn't mean that the Deaf man shouldn't. If any of your imaginary scenarios were true then I would certainly hope that those affected by it would rise up.

Your Japanese comment shows how determined you are not to understand the concept of equal access. For the benefit of other readers I will try one more time. Speaking another language is not a disability. It is within ones control to learn another language. When you put captions in a language other then what is being spoken then you are not offering access to a Deaf person. Foreign movies are subtitled into English because the film studios want to show their product to other countries access has nothing to do with it.

And yes thanks to people like you being Deaf can suck big time.


It only SUCKS to be Deaf when Hearing people are JERKS.

Its sad really that there are arguementative people online who have nothing better to do than argue that hard of hearing and deaf people don't deserve equal access or respect. Even worse when they are themselves self-righteous and very ignorant.

By the way, there IS a movement within the Deaf Community I have seen online to shun Netflix until they keep their promises!

Nobody wants courts and lawyers to have to get involved...but when a person purchases a service or product with explicit promise IN WRITING TOO that something extra will be provided, and it is not delivered, that is exactly the time the law needs to be involved. Contract law is there for both consumer and business to enforse the contract or ammend as needed.

May this end soon.

true religion outlet

Solitamente la stessa intervista viene interpretata in modo differente da ogni giornale e tutti ci leggono quello che vogliono “vendere ai loro polli”, ma quello che sorprende e' poi leggere quelli “come noi” che interpretano le cose ancora in una maniera differente.


I get what you're saying, you're looking at it from a strictly legal standpoint.. which doesn't matter at all because they are a private company.. so..

And i'm glad you understand that it is within ones control to learn a language.. which is why it'd be interesting to force deaf people to learn a new language to see CC. I mean.. the CC is offered to them.. they can see it.. and it's within their ability to learn that language.. so they have no legal leg to stand on right?

I shouldn't have even written anything else.. because my point is being missed over and over again. But you're preaching the morality of equal rights.. but you don't actually care about equal rights.

What i'm saying is... When you yell out equal rights.. don't just fix what's wrong with your situation.. fix it for everyone.

It's like a bar that says no blacks and no mexicans.. and a black man saying "I want equal rights!" let black people in!

because.. that's equal rights; all right!

That's why i'm saying it has nothing to do with being deaf.. it has nothing to do with me actually caring what Netflix does or doesn't do.

I just don't think you should use the phrase "equal rights" to get what YOU want.

Anyway.. I've voiced my opinion and I'm happy I did.

I do find it humorous you guys are implying i'm some sort of deaf hater; when you know nothing about me.

I simply care about equal rights, and think that people should only use the term to get equal rights, instead of what they want.

I guess i'm sorry for caring more about the rights of everyone over the rights of only deaf people.

And with the overly dramatic conclusion out of the way..

Have a nice day.

Mr. Nethead

Here's what I don't understand. Netflix clearly has the technology to provide captions as they do so with some titles. So why don't they include them with every new movie they upload? I could understand it taking time to replace the old streams with new streams that provide captions, but why do they continue to provide new streams without captions?

A lot of people seem to think it's cost prohibitive. It's not. Captions already exist for the majority of new movies. It's just a matter of attaching the captions to the movie stream.

There's a program called JW Media Player. This piece of free software offers users the option to overlay video files with subtitles. It's very easy to do, and there are websites online that provide subtitle/caption files for thousands of movies and TV shows. There are other software programs that also provide support for captions. It's not that hard.

I still say that if Netflix doesn't want to add captions, they should at least make it possible to add our own.


A private company has every obligation to meet it's responsibilities for access under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Private companies are not exempt.

We got your point it is just pointless. You are saying we do not have a right to use the word equal access when we are requesting equal access for ourselves. Of course we want captions something that does not benefit someone with red phobia (your example) because captions are what provide the Deaf and Hard of HEaring access in this case. If there are other things that will provide access to others they should certainly speak up and request whatever it is they need for their equal access.

I think it's clear that we are not going to agree on whether it's appropriate to use the term equal access when advocating for what we need, so like you I will simply say Have A Nice Day


Give me a break. Really. Must we sue over everything. And then we complain because everything costs so much. Wtf???

David R.

Netflix's business model has changed a great deal. Add CC to all their content will put a HUGE dent in whatever profits the would make. Before you decry screw their profits, last i checked you dont mow your neighbors yard for free. For all the whiners about the price of netflix rising, it will go up again in order for them to recoup the revenue lost by having to CC. That is my only gripe, the fact that a small percentage of viewers will benefit from CC, yet I will have to chip in to pay for it. Perhaps that isn't fair, but last i checked life isn't fair. People with hearing loss I would have thought already understood that. Part of what makes America great is the fact if something doesn't suit your needs, take your business elsewhere. YOU have the CHOICE.


Once again - no one is asking Netlfix to develop and pay for the captions themselves - just to stream the captions that have already been developed. As I noted earlier Netflix has never been sued for renting out DVDs that were not captioned in the first place. It should not add to your costs. Most DVDs you buy have captions on them - Did you notice how much more money they cost as a result ? All TVs have closed captioning circuitry in them as of the early 90s ? Remember the great caption TV price increase when that happened ? No? Thats because there wasn't one. And if indeed somehow adding captions would put a huge dent in the profits then all Netflix has to do is demonstrate that in court and they will be victorious. I would not ask any business to provide me access to it's products if the method of access harmed the bottom line.


Netflix will win and here is why ... they are not making the movie (or the captioning, menus, extra features...) They are simply a method of distribution of the film and its contents. I bet the judge will throw out the case. If the bozo making the complaint also sued the film studios who actually make the film and all its components then it is there that he has a very good chance of winning. But Netflix will never be liable as the distributor of the film.

Yes much of our problems are due to lawyers ... we (the United States) graduate 260,000 law students every year. A girl's gotta eat right? LOL. Im gonna sport a banana hammock and move to an island where there are no lawyers ...


The captions have already been made but Netflix and others are choosing to stream them without the captions. The analogy I would use is they are getting a color movie but only streaming it in black and white. These law suits are about enabling the captions that already exist. As noted before Netflix was never sued for renting DVDs that had no captions.

I suspect Netflix knows it will lose which is why they have been scrambling recently to honor their 80 percent commitment. I can not offer you stats but my friend has noticed a huge increase in subtitles/captions availability on his streaming and Apple recently added captioning/subititle capabilities to it's Apple TV for Netflix. So most likely this lawsuit should be withdrawn as I am not so sure it even applies anymore but last week it definitely did and I do not think it is a coincidence.

Rockman X

It's called IPRelay Look it up. Deaf people have been using phones for years.

No encoding is required to insert soft subtitles into movies and TV shows. And it's already required that they exist, anyway. They should have had subtitles from the beginning.

@moviegeek "There are hundreds of devices that use different software, Netflix has to find a way to have soft-subtitles/CC work on all of them."
Doesn't Netflix develop all of those softwares anyway? And if not, you really think it's that hard to implement a subtitle stream? There are far more than 1000 TVs on the market and each one supports Closed Captioning. Same with DVD players and subtitles. There are plenty of existing protocols to use and almost all of them can easily be used by any of the hundreds of players out right now with a simple firmware update.

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