SMPTE Offers Free Download of Broadband Video Closed-Caption Standard


WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.: The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers has made its broadband video closed-captioning standards documents available online for free. The group did so in anticipation of the Federal Communications Commission adopting Internet program-access rules for the disabled. SMPTE refers to its broadband video closed-caption standard as “Timed Text.”


“SMPTE Timed Text enables broadcasters to expand the use of their existing TV captions into the online media space, while ensuring the preservation of their integrity,” said Clyde Smith, senior vice president of Global Broadcast Technology for Turner Entertainment Networks and a SMPTE Fellow. “Its use will permit the industry to more rapidly migrate programming with captions to the web and ensure that all consumers’ online experiences will be at least as rich as they enjoy on TV today.”

The documents are available on the SMPTE standards page.

-- Television Broadcast