Aberdeen
All Captioning
Allied Vaughn
Caption Max
Caption Midwest
CCMaker
CPC
Custom Captions
National Captioning Institute
Network Captioning Services (BCS)
Raycom Post Production
Talking Type Captions
Transcription Company
Video Caption Corporation
Visual Data Media Services
12 comments:
These are good stuff. Thanks for showing it to us.
gwlj
This is jaw-dropping. Will the FCC turn around and take action against the captioning companies regarding their price-gouging?
Jamie ~ Can you find out how much it costs to add sound (speech and music) to films?
well there is at least one captioning company that specializes in captioning for religious groups
marlene, was thinking just the same thing - millions gets poured into the speakers, sound equipment, etc. etc not to mention high-profile singers - also bad business practice, since if you divide the few hundred by the thousands of deaf people who benefit from captioning, it does seem... like a no-brainer.
$180/hr - $650/hr
Think about this: Ridor's website got 30,000 hits in one night.
$650/30,000
We're talking fractions of pennies per potential consumer, here. And this doesn't even include others who benefit from captioning, like hospitals, the elderly, second-language learners...
I agree - costs are too often used to muddy the issue. Costs for sound systems and other effects are sure to be as high, or higher.
Captioning costs seem 'fair' or high, according to comments so far. Special skills and investment in equipment is required. Perhaps 350 dollars per 30 minutes can be reduced in the future. Yet meanwhile....
"Reasonable accommodation" in many places seems to mis-emphasize the actual sole cost of captioning. It's the relative cost (compared to total expenditures) that would seem to be more relevant. Yes or No?
I agree - costs are too often used to muddy the issue. Costs for sound systems and other effects are sure to be as high, or higher.
Captioning costs seem 'fair' or high, according to comments so far. Special skills and investment in equipment is required. Perhaps 350 dollars per 30 minutes can be reduced in the future. Yet meanwhile....
"Reasonable accommodation" in many places seems to mis-emphasize the actual sole cost of captioning. It's the relative cost (compared to total expenditures) that would seem to be more relevant. Yes or No?
Thanks, Jamie. I am having a terrible time getting my mother's birthday video captioned, most of the captioning companies do not bother to reply to me! I understand that you can get software for a Mac and have a hearing person caption for you.
Thanks again! (Defdamsel)
Yes, good questions. I actually tried confronting people over this(religious programming not being captioned) before. Always was a lesson in futility and anger, unfortunately. A common response was simply not directly answering the question. I've even went the route of asking how much did it cost for the sound/audio?(that was simply ignored- person walked off) I confronted one who had a programming that had *Spanish* translation but no CC.. the response? "Well there are a lot more Spanish speakers than deafmutes".... Arrrgh.
And unable to afford it? Please. Take a look at their personal residences or properties owned by them or other things they invest a lot of the money in....
On the bright side, this will spare a lot of Deaf people from uhm, religious nonsense. ;) (Atheist here. Before anybody jumps on me, realize I actually TRIED to talk to people about their religious programming not being captioned. Fair opportunity, y'all.)
Hey, Sonny James -
Price-gouging?? I'm a professional captioner. I take pride in the quality of my work. Do you know the costs associated with producing video? The equipment is very expensive. It's no secret that the going rate for 30 minutes of offline captioning is in the $300-350 range, and that seems reasonable. I think you fail to account for some of the facts.
1) There is a real, live person transcribing every word of the program, who (if they're like me) carefully ensures that correct names are used, and the captions appear at the right time. That person needs to be paid a reasonable living wage and provided with health insuance. I assure you, I don't drive a BMW or roll in my gigantic pile of Captioning Cash.
2. Overhead Costs. I mentioned it earlier, but I'll say it again. Have you ever priced a captioning encoder, two pro-quality decks, and the software + computers, plus installation of all that? We're talking a minimum $50,000 investment. Not to mention office space, phone lines, internet connections, administrative costs, tape stock, et cetera et cetera.
My point is, the costs are carefully calculated and presented to a client, who absorbs them as a cost of doing business. In fact, captioning can even be profitable in some situations. I've often told clients that they can have a sponsored 10-second spot leading into the second or third commercial break, "Closed Captioning brought to you by... such and such." If they sell that spot for $400 or $500 per episode, and it only costs $300 to caption the show, well, that's money in the bank. That may not work for a non-profit, of course, but if they have the cash to televise in the first place, it really doesn't cost that much more to caption relative to their initial expenditure. When a good, basic pro-quality camera costs $25,000, you can't tell me captioning costs too much.
Wow, thanks for posting this and thanks for everyone's responses. I guess I never thought about it in terms of how much audio equipment costs. Wow!
A 3 minute movie trailer takes me an hour to caption, 30 minutes would take 10 hours. If a company had to pay someone for 10 hours, at $7/hour, it would cost them $14/hour with benefits, expenses, and more. $140 for low wage employee to caption a half hour.
I am captioning a home video for someone. It takes a while.
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