Information Technology and Communications &

SAN DIEGO – On May 20, the City of San Diego will become the first city in the region to begin using the technology of closed captioning as part of televised city council meetings.  This new community service will be launched during Monday’s 2 p.m. meeting.

City Council meetings, which are telecast on the City of San Diego’s cable access channel, provide constituents with a means to access and participate in the local government.  The closed captioning of telecast meetings expands the City’s ability to reach out to all of its residents including those with hearing disabilities.

“The introduction of closed captioning services as part of City Council telecasts is one additional method to make public proceedings more accessible to San Diego residents,” said Marc Jaffe, Cable Television Program Manager.

Closed captioning displays the audio portion of a television signal as printed words on the television screen.  Live closed captioning is provided remotely by a professional captioning service.  The encoded messages are transmitted with the television signal and viewable through the use of a captioning decoder or with most television sets made after 1993, which have decoders built-in.

The new service was initiated through a partnership of the City’s Disability Services program, in the Community and Economic Development Department, and the Cable TV Office in the Information Technology and Communications Department. 

“This partnership has resulted in the City’s ability to provide an important new service.  It is another step toward our goal of making the City accessible to all of its residents,” said Debra Fischle-Faulk, deputy director of the Community and Economic Development Department.