Whether you are targeting audiences online or via traditional broadcast mediums, getting your closed captions right first time can be a huge time saver. Closed captioning services are a legal requirement for broadcast media, under the Equality Act, and are a definite must when it comes to submitting your content to the big video platforms. But with so many guidelines, formats and providers to navigate between, it can be hard to know what’s required or how to choose between closed caption conversions for broadcast. 

At Capital Captions, our captioning services include transcription, translation, subtitling and closed captions. In addition, we work with caption format conversions, which prove invaluable when it comes to the huge variance in broadcaster specifications. Some closed caption conversions for broadcast options are outlined below. 

SCC Closed Captioning

Often requested for use in iTunes content or within Adobe Premiere projects, SCC is a format sometimes requested by international broadcasters. SCC captions are always closed, never open captions. Text styles cannot be specified and there are a range of restrictions when it comes to character usage and computability. Character limits are set at under 32 characters as is standard for Line 21 and most importantly, SCC is a format designed for use with videos of 29.97FPS (NonDrop). 

CAP Closed Captions

Along SCC closed captioners, broadcasters may stipulate .CAP closed captions as their chosen format. Similar to SCC, CAP is a closed caption format with restrictions on character usage and line lengths. However, CAP subtitles can be used with a wide range of different video frame rates and formats. 

EBU-TT and EBU-TT-D Closed Captioning

Widely used by the BBC, these two closed caption formats have a huge number of specifications to conform to. These include a media based as opposed to frame based timing structure, preferred character limits typically of 47 characters per line and reading speed preferences usually set to 180wpm for children and 250wpm for adults. EBU-TT is a TTML based caption format and is typically used for broadcast content, where EBU-TT-D is the preferred format for platforms such as iPlayer and other online media players.

SRT and Web-VTT Closed Captions

While most broadcasters and professional based distribution channels will prefer to work with the latter formats, some providers may be happy to work with standard SRT and/or WebVTT captions as a starting point.

These formats are highly versatile and can be quite simple to create, edit and display. If you are looking to work with numerous caption formats over the long term, creating SRT files first can be a great starting point as it’s the most flexible, highly adopted format and can be imported relatively easily into most video platforms.

So there you have it, when it comes to closed caption conversions for broadcast it can be a bit of a minefield out there with so many different companies using different ones. If you’d like to know more about the Equality Act that defines the use of these formats check out the link. If you are happy and you know what kind of closed caption format you are after why not click the button below for a quick and easy quote from our professional and friendly team.