the awakening A LIVE PRAISE AND WORSHIP EXPERIENCE 1504 E. 51ST STREET AUSTIN, TX 78723 www.theawakening.tv (866) 512-6301 December 16, 2003 FCC Attn: Secretary's Office Closed Captioning 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 RE: REQUEST FOR EXEMPTION FROM COMMISSION'S CLOSED CAPTIONING RULES Awakening Ministries respectfully submits this petition requesting exemption from the closed captioning requirements, under Section 79.1 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. & 79.1. Awakening Ministries believe their program qualifies for this exemption for the following reasons. Part 79.1 Section (D) Item (8) The Awakening is a locally produced non-news programming with no repeat value. The Awakening programming is locally produced by video programming distributor, has no repeat value, is of public interest, is not news programming and for which the "electronic news room" technique of captioning is unavailable. Part 79.1 Section (F) Compliance would impose an undue burden to Awakening Ministries for the following reasons: (1) It would be necessary to send the programs to an outside source for captioning. This would impact meeting airdate deadlines and the added production cost would make production unaffordable. (Enclosed is a letter of captioning costs) (2) Awakening Ministries would have to discontinue our program and cease broadcast operations. (3) Awakening Ministries is donor supported. (4) Awakening Ministries is an outreach ministry of PromiseLand Church whose sole purpose is to share the abundant life we have through Jesus Christ with our community. Again, we respectfully request that Awakening Ministries be exempted from the closed captioning requirement for the above stated reasons. We may be reached at: Awakening Ministries PO Box 15086 Austin, TX 78761 866.512.6301 512-.454.8068 info@theawakening.tv Sincerely, /s/ Randy Phillips President Date: 12-17-03 To: Katherine Burgett From: Mike Broyles Re: Closed Captioning Enclosed is an estimate from Aberdeen Captioning. The bid is structured to show the pricec for a single master. The Awakening produces three individual masters for each production. Therefore the actual price for each production would triple. Aberdeen Captioning Committed to the WORD 30211 Avenida de las Banderas, #248 Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 Ph. (949) 888-6621) fax (949) 888-6623 www.abercap.com October 2, 2003 Dear Mike, Thank for your interest in Aberdeen Captioning. Below is Aberdeen Captioning's post-production captioning proposal to PromiseLand Church for your weekly program "The Awakening". OPTION 1 * Roll-up Captions (BetaSP) 30-minute weekly program $327 per program *PromiseLand Church will be responsible for shipping to and from Aberdeen Captioning. Aberdeen Captioning will provide tape stock for the final captioned master. Additional Captioned Masters (BetaSP) $45 (tape stock included) OPTION 2 * Live to Tape - Aberdeen Creates Master (BetaSP) 30-minute weekly program $150 per program * PromiseLand will be responsible for shipping masters to and from Aberdeen Captioning. Aberdeen Captioning will provide tape stock for the final captioned master. A list of all speakers, subject matter, possible Scripture references, note outline, song lyrics and any technical words that may be used needs to be provided to Aberdeen Captioning. This is necessary to provide a more accurate captioning service. If this is not provided, some unique words may be jumbled on the screen. OPTION 3 * Live to Tape - PromiseLand Creates Master 30-minute weekly program $70 per program * PromiseLand will need to provide 2 phone lines, one for audio and the second for connecting to your encoder's modem. A list of all speakers, subject matter, possible Scripture references, note outline, song lyrics and any technical words that may be used needs to be provided to Aberdeen Captioning prior to the program. This is necessary to provide a more accurate captioning service. If this is not provided, some unique words may be jumbled on the screen. Approximate encoder cost would be $2000 - $4000. Encoder information: Ultech - www.ultech.com - 888-360-0010 Link - www.linkelectronics.com - (573) 334 4433 I hope that the above pricing meets your approval. Please call me with any questions you may have about our services or closed captioning in general. We look forward to providing you with excellent captioning to reach the hearing- impaired and others for Jesus Christ. Best regards, Becky Isaacs Managing Partner Aberdeen Captioning committed to the WORD Aberdeen Captioning is a full-service captioning company. Our goal is to establish an ongoing, long-term working relationship with you. We are dedicated to providing you with exceptional service and 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. Give us a call! Why Caption? Other than having to comply with the FCC mandate that requires the following number of broadcast hours to be captioned per day: 10 hours as of 1/1/02, 15 hours as of 1/1/04 and 20 hours as of 1/1/06, captioning is the only way the deaf are able to become a more complete part of the entertainment industry. The National Association of the Deaf reports that more than 28 million Americans have a hearing loss. Captioning your program can potentially increase your audience by 10 percent. Captioning a program reaches beyond the deaf and hearing-impaired. Over 30 million people are learning English as a second language, 27 million adults are improving their literacy skills and 10 million elementary school children are learning to read. Captioning helps them all improve their language skills. Don't miss this giant opportunity to reach over 93 million Americans!!!! Post-Production Post-production captioning is the process of transcribing a program's dialogue and placing it into a new master tape in the form of open captions, closed captions or subtitles. Closed Captions (roll-up or pop-on) A decoding device is required to open these captions for viewing. Captions are recorded on line 21 of the tape and are made visible by using a decoder. All televisions, 13 inches or larger, built after 1993 are required to have a built-in decoder. Open Captions (roll-up or pop-on) Open captions look identical to closed captions but no decoding device is required to view these captions. The captions are "burned" onto the video tape allowing captions to be visible whenever the video is played. Subtitling Subtitling differs from open or closed captioning by the way that it is presented on the screen. It appears in upper and lower-case letters and can appear in various colors and fonts. It is also "burned into the video and visible at all times. Webcasting and Video CD A caption file is created from an encoded video. The caption file is synchronized with the video and played on Windows Media Player, Quick Time or Real Player. DVD A single DVD disk can contain subtitles in up to 32 different languages. Subtitles can be produced in every language, using any Windows TrueType font. A DVD disk can also contain closed captions in up to six languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German and Dutch. Real-Time (LIVE) Captioning Real-time captioning is the process of transcribing a program's dialogue, with an accuracy rate of at least 98 percent, and making the text immediately viewable. This is used for live presentations and live television broadcasts ... * Newscasts * Corporate Meetings * Public Events * Sporting Events * Conventions * Church Services Post-Production Process What do I need to do? * Send master tape along with a blank tape * Provide correct spelling of all proper names and technical words within the program What will I receive? * You will receive 2 tapes: your original master and a copy of the master with captions encoded * A transcript in ASCII text e-mailed to you * 100 percent satisfaction guarantee! Real-Time (LIVE) Process * Provide correct spelling of all proper names and technical words within the program * For local events, make room for our captionist and provide a video feed * For on-air broadcasts, you will need an onsite encoder and 2 phone lines: one for our captionist to dial into the encoder and one for our captionist to listen to the audio Pricing The below pricing is a general guideline. An accurate quote will be given with your complete project details. Roll-up Captions $5 - $13/video minute - $200 minimum Pop-on Captions or Subtitling $16/video minute - $200 minimum Webcasts, DVD, Video CD, Foreign Language Call for pricing Price includes: * Verbatim transcription of your video * Already have a verbatim transcript? Deduct $2/min * VHS approval copy (upon request) * Normal turnaround of 5-10 business days * Transcript in text file e-mailed to you * Volume discounts available Live Captioning Long-term contracts $115 - $135 / hr. Single event $250 / first hr. $200 / additional hr.