NCI's Custom Real-Time Captioning

Caption with Confidence

Background

In 1982, the National Captioning Institute developed the real-time captioning service to give captioned TV viewers access to live programming. With the world's most sophisticated real-time captioning facilities and the most highly trained captioning professionals, NCI provides over 75,000 hours of live captioning every year for television programming and video feeds of live events such as meetings and seminars.

What is Custom Real-Time Captioning?

NCI's Custom Real-Time Captioning is a cost-effective service designed for live programming that requires flexibility and reliability but only needs limited technical support and does not require refeeds. This service is particularly useful for local and regional news, sports and community specials, corporate and government agency meetings, Webcasts, videoconferences, and live cable network programming.

Custom Real-Time Captioning Features

• Highest quality real-time captioning available
• Captioning provided at NCI facilities and/or remote locations
• Scheduling flexibility
• General availability of backup equipment
• Limited availability of backup personnel and backup power
• Immediate access to technical support via a special “live line”
• Access to technical support
• Captioner works from either a video feed or an audio line (client monitors captions when an audio line is used)
• No refeeds or fix-ups available

What Type of Skills Are Needed for This Demanding Work?

NCI recruits skilled real-time captioners and court reporters who are retrained to be real-time captioners. It can take up to a year for a court reporter to develop the speed, accuracy and skills necessary to become an NCI real-time captioner.

NCI’s real-time captioners are capable of creating captions from the spoken word at speeds of over 225 words per minute while maintaining accuracy at a minimum of 98 percent, though the level usually exceeds 99 percent.


How do I arrange for real-time captioning?

NCI's requirements to begin captioning are very simple. Call an NCI marketing representative with the following information or complete the on-line form.

• Date, time and length of program, including run-over possibilities
• Technical contact names and phone numbers
• Technical information on transmission path:

  Satellite

• Downlink frequency
• Service time
• Encryption information, or

Other Access

If a video feed is not available, through broadcast, cable, satellite, or Internet connections, a dedicated audio feed must be established.