Netflix Closed Caption Class Action Settlement

Netflix, Inc. has reached a class action lawsuit settlement over the lack of closed captioning on all their streamed movies and television shows. Netflix has agreed to caption all of its shows by the year 2014. It is the first ruling that recognizes web-based businesses are covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The Netflix settlement will resolve a 2010 class action lawsuit filed by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and deaf Massachusetts resident Lee Nettles, who claim Netflix discriminated against the hearing impaired by forcing deaf and hard-of-hearing customers to pay for more expensive DVD rentals that are closed-captioned. The Plaintiffs argued that Netflix’s website was a “place of public accommodation,” and therefore was bound by the ADA.

Netflix began streaming shows in 2008 and started captioning them in 2010. A federal judge said even though Netflix and other Internet-based businesses did not exist when the ADA was enacted in 1990, the law was intended to adapt to technology changes.

Netflix spokesman Jonathan Friedland said the company was targeted by the closed-captioning class action lawsuit “because we were pioneers to streaming video, but the interesting thing is we are so far ahead and much more evolved in providing quality captioning than any of the other streaming services.”

Currently, Netflix captions 82 percent of its videos, but has agreed to reach the 90 percent mark in 2013 and 100 percent by 2014, under the class action settlement agreement.

The company also agreed to caption new content faster “and shall strive to reach a point at which Conforming Captions are provided simultaneously with launch at all times,” according to the class action lawsuit settlement agreement. The new plan will require Netflix to add captions to new movies and television shows within 30 days by 2014; within 14 days by 2015; and within 7 days by 2016.

While Netflix is playing nice now, the company spent nearly two years trying to dismiss the class action lawsuit, arguing that the ADA didn’t apply in this case because it was superseded by a new law that has the FCC set rules for online captioning. A federal judge struck down that argument in June, saying the new law was meant to “complement, not supplant” the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Netflix closed captioning class action lawsuit settlement will have wide implications for the 48 million deaf and hard-of-hearing customers in the United States. Other online streaming services, such as those offered by Hulu, Amazon.com and iTunes, will now be forced to comply with the ADA and provide closed captioning.