'Caption' for TV new job prospect

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

'Caption' for TV new job prospect

Add "closed captioning" to call centers and medical transcription on the list of outsourcing jobs as a career choice for young people. The US Congress has passed a law that requires "closed captioning" of all new English-language television programming in the country. The law took effect January 1, 1998, allowing an eight-year transition period. That period has run its course this year. Captioning is implemented to allow the hearing-impaired to enjoy a program on television or a video film by reading the dialogue spoken at the bottom of the screen. It is also intended to help people learning English as a second language, people learning how to read and people in a noisy environment. The term "closed caption" means that only those who activate it can see the text. "Open caption" is visible to all viewers. The House majority leader, Eduardo Gullas, said the closed-captioning law will bring thousands of new outsourcing jobs to the Philippines, with an increased demand expected to be felt in the months ahead. Closed captioning available here In fact, Gullas said, PeopleSupport Inc., a business-process outsourcing provider based in Makati and Cebu, is already providing closed-captioning services for US-based entertainment firms. Out of its more than 6,000 employees handling outsourcing jobs, close to 1,500 work in its closed-captioning operation.   "Captioning is something new for our college graduates," Gullas noted. "Unlike call-center work, captioning requires no voice skills. However, a high degree of English comprehension skills is essential, because the captioning professional must transcribe the spoken word into a readable format." According to Gullas, author of a bill in reinstating English as a medium of instruction in schools, the development underscores the need for young people to learn the language. It has been observed that US video program distributors are now on a "mad scramble" to comply with the mandatory closed-captioning requirement. The problem is that there are only 26,000 American captio­ning professionals, most of them already employed as judicial reporters. Moreover, they demand an average annual salary of $70,000. "The only way out for the distributors is to find ways to outsource jobs to low-cost, English-speaking countries such as the Philippines," Gullas said. The US Federal Communications Commission has already imposed stiff fines on television networks that failed to provide captions during emergency broadcasts in recent wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes. http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/june/07/yehey/top_stories/20060607top2.html