HOMTV Provides Closed Captioning Service for On-Demand Township Meeting Coverage

New Service Accommodates a More Inclusive Audience

Meridian Township, MI — HOMTV partnered with a new online video service provider, Swagit Productions LCC, offering closed captioning services for archived on-demand meetings which began in January 2017.

Meridian Township meetings with closed captioning include: Environmental Commission, Park Commission, Planning Commission, Township Board and Zoning Board of Appeals. There is a 24 hour turnaround time for closed caption meetings to be available.

Providing closed captioning services was part of a three year process.

  • 2014 The Meridian Township Board passed a Resolution in support of PEG channels stating: “It is important to preserve PEG channels and funding for PEG channels and to ensure that PEG channels continue to be available to the entire community to serve residents.”
  •  2015 The Communications Commission and Township Board set a goal to explore closed captioning options.
  • 2016 The Township Board approved the 2017 budget year for these services.

Tax dollars are not affected by the service. Funding for closed captioning is from PEG fees & franchise fees collected from AT&T and Comcast annual gross revenue for the use of the public rights of way. Monies collected are designated for use by the Township Board & Communications Commission to provide Communication services including the HOMTV Government Access Channel to the residents of Meridian Township and provide the playback of the CAMTV Regional Access Channel.

“It is not required by the FCC for PEG channels to provide closed captioning but the Township feels strongly in having this be provided to its residents and we are happy to have this as an additional HOMTV programming service,” Deborah Guthrie, Meridian Township Communications Director.

HOMTV’s live video stream and on-demand closed captioned meetings are paired with an indexed agenda that have made it easier for viewers to jump to topics or agenda items that are most relevant to them.