Free Captioning Services for Nonprofits

VITAC, a Pittsburgh-based provider of closed captioning and other accessible media services, plans to provide up to 150 hours of free captioning services to nonprofit organizations nationwide.

The provider is offering the services as part of its launch of a national awareness campaign called CaptionsON. The campaign aims to heighten awareness of the benefits that closed captions offer to more than 50 million Americans.

“As we begin our third decade in the captioning industry, we would like to play a meaningful role in informing the general public about the power of captioning,” VITAC President and CEO Patricia A. Prozzi said in a press release.

“Through CaptionsON we hope to increase understanding of the broad impact of captioning [and] the importance of ubiquitous, high-quality captions and provide a way to address the issues, questions and challenges of the ultimate end-user of captions — the captioning viewer.”

Nonprofits interested in the free captioning services should visit www.captionson.com by June 8.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for nonprofit organizations nationwide to ensure that their audiovisual material, intended for general audiences or their clients, students or employees, is accessible through captions,” added Bobbie Beth Scoggins, president of the board of directors for the National Association of the Deaf. “CaptionsON will have a positive and profound impact on the deaf and hard-of-hearing, and hearing communities alike.”