FAQ : What is the availability of closed captions in high-definition television (HDTV)?

     All HDTV sets sold after July 2002 are required to have the closed caption decoder chip built in. However, a program that is normally captioned on a standard television may appear on HDTV without the captions present.

      There are two methods that television signals are broadcast in: analog and digital. Presently, programming is being broadcast in the analog signal, which means the networks that are broadcasting in digital now are converting the analog signal into a digital signal. Since the captions are prepared for analog transmission currently, those stations transmitting in digital have converted the captions so they will appear along with the digital broadcast. These stations have specific equipment to convert the captions for their digital broadcasts. However, not all stations have the equipment necessary to convert the captions, so there are programs that will not carry the analog captions along with the digital broadcast until a future date.
A switchover will take place in the year 2006, when all television programs will be broadcast in the digital signal.

      At that time, all stations will be required to carry the
captions along with digital broadcast programs and
everyonewill need a digital television set in order
to receive this programming.