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Gardner Educational Television seeks closed-captioning system (English + optional Spanish) to improve accessibility
Summary
Gardner Educational Television proposed buying a closed-captioning and transcription system for live meetings and video-on-demand; the vendor quote included English-only equipment plus a 10-year Spanish-language license option, raising cost questions for the subcommittee about ongoing funding and cable revenue declines.
Gardner Educational Television (GET) presented a budget request that includes a closed-captioning system to provide live English captions and an optional 10-year Spanish translation license, along with modest equipment purchases and staffing support.
GET manager Josty (first name not provided) said the station’s new producer, Shane Brown, has expanded sports and senior-center coverage and that upgrades would support live closed captioning for city council and school committee meetings and improve accessibility for viewers with hearing impairments. The proposal included two pricing options: an English-only installation the station would own outright, and a higher-cost package that includes a 10-year Spanish-language license. The manager said the Spanish option is driven by local demographics, including school-district reports that roughly 35% of students speak Spanish at home.
GET staff also noted declines in Comcast-derived cable-fee revenue tied to cord-cutting; the station’s operating model depends on cable subscriber fees. The manager said the department is exploring integration with the high school’s broadcast infrastructure and that the mayor’s office supports pursuing a solution to put closed captioning in place for televised municipal meetings.
Councilors asked whether YouTube’s automatic captions would suffice; GET staff said YouTube captions exist but the proposed system provides higher accuracy for live television and carries options to export transcripts for the city’s video-on-demand system. The subcommittee did not take a vote on purchasing; staff and councilors asked for cost breakdowns and recessed further budget questions for follow-up review.
