# Closed Captioning: Scrolling vs. Static Captions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closed-captioning-scrolling-vs-static-captions/752608 "2016-04-19T00:23:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closed-captioning-scrolling-vs-static-captions/752608/1 "2016-04-19T00:23:46Z")
I notice that on scripted shows (_The Goldbergs_, for example), the closed captions\* that appear on my TV screen are static, and even appear a fraction of a second before the characters speak. This I understand; months have passed between the completion of the episode and the time ABC broadcasts it, and whoever is in charge of this sort of thing has had plenty of time to integrate the captions into the episode. With live TV, I get why they scroll, since it takes the operators a while to catch up to the spoken words. What I don’t get is why my captions scroll on shows like _Ellen_ or _The Tonight Show_. By my math, NBC has had seven hours since the Roots played Jimmy off by the time _The Tonight Show_ hits the air. Probably 12 hours or more for _Ellen_. Also, I imagine that someone at Ellen’s and Jimmy’s distributors handle the closed captioning in-house, but what about, say, sports? Right now I’m watching the Cubs and the Cardinals at Busch Stadium on ESPN. Is someone at ESPN headquarters in Dover watching the game and inputing the commentators’… commentary? Was somebody (or a team of somebodies) at CBS headquarters doing the same to The Masters commentary a couple weeks back? \*Yes, I am of an age where I have to have the closed captions on TV. Except the scrolling ones. The scrolling ones make my head hurt. ---
**Author:** ![TipTapTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/34f0e0/32.png) [@TipTapTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TipTapTwo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closed-captioning-scrolling-vs-static-captions/752608/2 "2016-04-19T01:28:08Z")
As to why some shows do not re-make their captions, (either turning a live typing into something without spelling errors, or change the scroling format) I think that it boils down to cost. If the companies are already FCC compliant the first time around, why spend more money to pretty-up something that they only do because the government is forcing them? > **[Closed captioning | Technical aspects](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_captioning#Technical_aspects)** > > There were many shortcomings in the original Line 21 specification from a typographic standpoint, since, for example, it lacked many of the characters required for captioning in languages other than English. Since that time, the core Line 21 character set has been expanded to include quite a few more characters, handling most requirements for languages common in North and South America such as French, Spanish, and Portuguese, though those extended characters are not required in all decoders and a... There are various closed captioning companies that other media companies can outsource their captioning needs to, or the media companies can just have their own stable of stenographers to caption with. There are even speech-to-text computerized captions similar to SIri. > **[Closed captioning | Sports venues](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_captioning#Sports_venues)** > > Captioning systems have also been adopted by most major league and high-profile college stadiums and arenas, typically through dedicated portions of their main scoreboards or as part of balcony fascia LED boards. These screens display captions of the public address announcer and other spoken content, such as those contained within in-game segments, public service announcements, and lyrics of songs played in-stadium. In some facilities, these systems were added as a result of discrimination lawsui... For live sports events, stadiums are even turning a portion of their scorebroards into live captioning, for as you said, live game commentary. That again can be any way that the Stadium officals want. Be it hiring a local stenographer just for the game, outsourcing to a company, or having their own in-house people do it. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closed-captioning-scrolling-vs-static-captions/752608/3 "2016-04-19T03:21:55Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > What I don’t get is why my captions scroll on shows like _Ellen_ or _The Tonight Show_. By my math, NBC has had seven hours since the Roots played Jimmy off by the time _The Tonight Show_ hits the air. Probably 12 hours or more for _Ellen_. WAG. Perhaps some live to tape programs are also captioned live to tape because it’s more cost-effective for them. Is the captioning for _The Tonight Show_ and _Ellen_ error-free and grammatically correct, or are there errors with typos?