Netflix may be a popular way to stream movies and TV shows but this week a group has filed a lawsuit against Netflix claiming it discriminates against those who are deaf or hard of hearing. The National Association of the Deaf filed the lawsuit on Thursday, claiming that Netflix has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act "by failing to provide closed captioning for most of its “Watch Instantly” movies and television streamed on the Internet."
According to the NAD's press release they have tried for years to get Netflix to provide captions for all of the movies and TV shows it has on its streaming service. However, according to the group's president Bobbie Beth Scoggins, "They chose not to serve our community on an equal basis; we must have equal access to the biggest provider of streamed entertainment. As Netflix itself acknowledges, streamed video is the future and we must not be left out."
Last February, the Netflix blog site said that 30 percent of its streaming video content had captions and that it had plans to increase that amount to 80 percent by the end of 2011. It even has a page on the Netflix web site that people can see which movies and TV shows have captions.
In related news, the Netflix blog site today announced that the streaming movies from Sony Pictures that are a part of Netflix's deal with the Starz pay cable network have been removed due to a "temporary contract issue between Sony and Starz." There's no word on when these movies will be put back online.
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