Movie Captioning in New Jersey

Dear SHHH Leaders and Advocates: SHHH is a member of the Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC). On August 20th CMC sent a letter to the Attorney General of New Jersey regarding his recent push for movie theaters to make movies accessible to hard of hearing and deaf viewers in his state. Though we applaud his efforts to expand the number of captioned movies in his state, we are concerned about his specifying the use of only one type of captioning technology - Rear Window caption system - when there are at least three other technologies available.

Brenda Battat Director of Public Policy

Coalition for Movie Captioning Equal Access Now for Deaf,and Hard of Hearing Consumers Their Family Members and Friends
August 20, 2004 Peter C. Harvey Attorney General New Jersey Department of Law & Public Safety P.O. Box 080 Trenton, NJ 08625-0080 Re: Movie Captioning – Access for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Dear Mr. Harvey: The Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC) is a consortium of major national organizations of deaf and hard of hearing people that addresses the movie theater access needs of 28million deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened, and deaf-blind consumers. For more information about CMC, see http://www.nad.org/infocenter/newsroom/nadnews/cmc. We recently learned about the meetings that you and J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo, Director, Division on Civil Rights, have had with members of the New Jersey deaf and hard of hearing community. We applaud your efforts to empower the deaf and hard of hearing community in the State of New Jersey. CMC also recently learned about and wants to support your efforts to increase access to movies by people who are deaf and hard of hearing. The notice we received about those efforts, however, suggested that theaters in New Jersey were asked to display captions using the Rear Window caption system. Further, the notice suggested that theaters could not choose to display movies with on-screen captions, either through open caption prints, available through InSight Cinema, or caption projection systems, such as Digital Theater Systems Cinema Subtitling System (DTS-CSS) and Dolby’s ScreenTalk, which will soon be introduced in the U.S. The notice urged members of the deaf and hard of hearing community to contact your office and express their views about choosing movie caption display systems. CMC's goal is for all first-run movies to be accessible to people with hearing loss. CMC supports having a variety of captioning systems available to consumers and flexibility to include futuresystems as better long-term solutions develop and become available, thus offering advanced technology and providing flexibility for movie theaters while maximizing accessibility options for movie theater patrons. See http://www.nad.org/infocenter/newsroom/othernews/CMCpositionpaper.html. We understand that your office is working with the New Jersey Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing concerning this matter. A broader invitation to the New Jersey deaf and hard of hearing community to participate in this process may help defuse any opposition raised by the notice we received. Increased communication about the selection, number, and placement of movie captioning system(s), before final decisions are made, rather than after the fact, will likely produce more equitable results and greater support from the deaf and hard of hearing community in New Jersey. Similarly, educating movie theater operators and the deaf and hard of hearing community about captioning technologies and options, especially by providing opportunities to experience these systems, can be very helpful to the decision-making process as a whole. In addition, ancillary matters may also be discussed and considered, such as caption movie show times, public information about the shows and show times, and employee training. These are crucial to full access and consumer satisfaction. As you may know, CMC participated as amicus curiae in two movie cases: Cornilles v. Regal Cinemas, Inc. (Oregon), and Ball v. AMC Entertainment, Inc. (DC). CMC supported the proposed settlement agreement in the DC case, with reservations. See copy of CMC’s comments at http://www.nad.org/openhouse/action/alerts/cmc/CMCcommentsFinal.pdf. Movie theater companies can become leaders in their industry and communities. For example, Consolidated Theaters recently opened the Majestic, a 20-screen movie theater in Silver Spring, Maryland. Four of their screens are equipped with Rear Window caption systems. This is the only theater in the United States today where deaf and hard of hearing movie patrons have a choice of up to four different movies to see and enjoy with their family and friends. CMC supports the State of New Jersey in its efforts to make movies more accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. We have information, experience, and expertise that may assist you. Please contact Rosaline Crawford at (301) 587-7730 or by e-mail at Crawford@nad.org.
	Sincerely, Cheryl Heppner, Chair Coalition for Movie Captioning 3951 Pender Drive, Suite 130 Fairfax, VA 22030 NVRCheryl@aol.com
cc: J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo, Director Division on Civil Rights P.O. Box 090 Trenton, NJ 08625-0090 Gary LoCassio, Assistant Director Division on Civil Rights P.O. Box 089 Trenton, NJ 08625-0089 Anne Marie Kelly Deputy Attorney General AnneMarie.Kelly@law.dol.lps.state.nj.us