Lack of subtitles on new movies in itunes

Question

Lack of subtitles on new movies in itunes

I'm deaf and rely on subtitles/closed captions to enjoy movies. A large number of recently uploaded movies available for rent/purchase through itunes Australia do not come with subtitles/CC. Some examples include: 12 Years a Slave, The Spectacular Now and Love, Rosie. All of these three movies have subtitles/CC on the USA itunes store, but not in Australia's itunes store.

What's the best way to make Apple Australia more disability friendly? Start a petition? Or should I go undercover an start purchasing movies from the US itunes store via US itunes vouchers? Report them to the Human Rights Commission? I've already enquired via the itunes help service but that didn't help as my query went to a team based in the USA who obviously are not able to influence itunes Australia's policies. They did not offer a suggestion as to what I should do in order to encourage itunes Australia to provide subtitles/CC on their movies.

I'm very frustrated over the lack of movie choices as so many movies on itunes Australia do not come with subtitles/CC...

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Mar 19, 2015 4:36 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 19, 2015 5:22 AM in response to King_Penguin

It doesn't make sense that a film studio would discriminate based on country. For example, US iTunes have over 90% of their films subtitled, while in Australia's iTunes, only two of the current top five movies are subtitled. So if the US iTunes is offered movie rights with subtitles, so should Australia's iTunes.

I'm told it is Apple Australia's choice, as they choose to not pay for that little extra to buy the subtitles when they purchase the movie rights from the film studio. All studios provide their movies with a range of subtitles/captions (as demonstrated in US iTunes), but often as an additional cost.

Thanks for the link to the feedback page - I have since sent my concerns.

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Answer 2

Apr 5, 2015 9:52 AM in response to deafneedsubtitles

Write to your government and file a formal complaint against studios/distributors/rights-holders, encourage the government to make an effort to make legalisation that request those studios/distributors/rights-holders to have to supply movies with subtitles. Also check your Australian laws, and see if there are any legalisations in there that you can use against the studios [...], and sue them.

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Answer 3

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,336 points

Mar 19, 2015 6:38 AM in response to deafneedsubtitles

The film studio or the distributor/rights-holder for a country keep the rights to their content - Apple don't buy the rights and they have no control over where a film (or any other item) is available for sale.

The studio/rights-holder grant Apple a license to sell their content in the iTunes store on a country-by-country basis. But a film may have different rights-holders for different countries, the Australian rights-holder/distributor may not have bought the rights from the studio for the subtitled versions, and so can't supply them to Apple (or they have agreed an exclusive deal with a different online store for them).

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Answer 4

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,336 points

Mar 19, 2015 4:42 AM in response to deafneedsubtitles

It's not Apple's choice as to what content is available where, and what subtitles they have on the films, they can only sell in a particular country what they are licensed to sell. You can try requesting that the versions with subtitles be added to the Australian store (but without the rights-holders agreement it can't happen) : http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html

And you could contact the film studios direct and ask them to allow Apple to sell subtitled films in Australia.

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Answer 5

Apr 5, 2015 10:01 AM in response to King_Penguin

Apple may not have any control over getting movies to sell, but they COULD try to encourage the studios/distributors to see that if downloads is going to be the future, replacing DVDs, then the studios could make a little extra money if they sell their downloaded movies with subtitles, because usually deaf people tend to not bother buying any movies if it got no subtitles.

Apple could say to the studios "If you want to sell your movies via iTunes, and get more money for your box office movies, could you please make an effort to put subtitles on your movies for the deaf people!" If Apple and other services, like Netflix, could say to the studios "We're not selling those movies unless there are subtitles on them." The studios could lose money if they can't get to sell their movies as downloads.

Surely Apple must've got some friends in high places that could also help encourage studios to make an effort.

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