What are Closed Captions?
Closed captions provide a text alternative for the original dialogue of video programming, adding important non-dialogue information, such as speaker identification, to regular subtitles. We recognize at Pluto TV that for our deaf or hard of hearing users, closed captions are a main feature of entertainment. We also recognize the usefulness of captions for anyone in a noisy environment. As Pluto TV extends its reach to new handheld devices in addition to the traditional living room TV experience, we aim to make our service a truly personalized and convenient experience -- one that you can watch anywhere.
Where can I Enable Closed Captioning?
We make closed captioning available on all of Pluto TV’s authorized platforms and browsers. These include the Pluto TV web application (pluto.tv), mobile applications, and connected TVs and streaming devices.
Closed captions may be enabled through the “CC” button in the video player (pictured below on pluto.tv). For more information on enabling or adjusting the appearance of closed captions, please view our Closed Captioning Instructions.
If your streaming device does not appear to offer closed captioning, please try one of our troubleshooting methods, or if these do not work, then please contact us so that we can investigate.
Which Content Includes Closed Captioning?
Most of the live and on demand content on Pluto TV’s service have English or Spanish closed captions. Pursuant to FCC rules for IP-based closed captioning, any English or Spanish content that originally aired in the U.S. with captions should carry closed captions when it is rebroadcast over the internet.
If your program doesn’t appear to offer captions, please try one of our troubleshooting methods. If the issue is not resolved by troubleshooting, then it is possible that the program did not originally air with captions and does not carry them through Pluto TV. But please feel free to contact us with any questions.
Quality Standards
At Pluto TV, we strive for high quality captions and hold our content partners to standards that encompass caption accuracy, synchronization, completeness, and proper placement on the screen.
Accuracy
Our goal is to meet a minimum of 99% accuracy of captions for all pre-recorded programming. However, if you’re watching a show or movie on Pluto TV and notice that the captions appear to be incorrect, please keep in mind that older content may be paraphrased and not have 100% word-for-word reliability. Furthermore, unscripted, live content (news, sports, etc.) is captioned in real-time and is more likely to contain errors.
If you encounter an error that does not meet one of the scenarios above, then please contact us so that we can investigate.
Synchronization
All closed captions should generally appear with the corresponding speech or sound in order to provide a quality experience. If captions appear to be out of sync, please try reloading the video by stopping playback and returning. If you still experience issues, try these troubleshooting methods. If the problem persists, or if only one program seems to be affected, then please contact us so that we can investigate.
Completeness
If the closed captions do not run the full length of a program, then there may be a deficiency with the caption file itself. Please contact us with the program details so that our QC team can investigate and report the problem to our programming partner.
Placement
Closed captions should never be cut off or unreadable, and they should never block other important visual content on the screen. If you find that a problem like this is occurring, please first try these troubleshooting methods. If the problem persists, then please contact us so that we can investigate.