Netflix Settles Suit And Will Caption All Videos By 2014

Netflix has been embroiled in a lawsuit with deaf-rights groups since 2010. The deaf-rights groups sued Netflix because some videos offered on the streaming service lacked close captioning making them unwatchable to the deaf or hard of hearing. Netflix has now announced that it has settled that lawsuit with the rights group and has agreed to caption all videos on the service.

All of the videos on the Netflix streaming service will be close captioned by 2014. Netflix plans to have 90% of its videos captioned in 2013. Netflix claims that it already has captions available for 82% of the videos on service according to court documents.

In the settlement, Netflix agreed to put captions on all newly added content within 30 days by the year 2014. By the year, 2015 Netflix promises to caption the content within 14 days of adding it. By 2016, Netflix says all new content will be captioned within seven days of adding it to its library.

The agreement ends a class-action lawsuit brought against Netflix in 2010, and Netflix will pay $755,000 in legal fees. The original class-action suit claimed that Netflix's website was considered "a place of public accommodation" and was out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Netflix originally tried to get the case thrown out, but the case moved forward last June.

[via ArsTechnica]