OPB provides the community with a variety of services so that all of our audience can enjoy our content.

We are also part of the Emergency Alert System to keep everyone informed of the latest information related to any emergency situations.

Closed Captioning

  • Closed captioning is designed to assist deaf or hearing-impaired people, English Language Learners, young children learning to read and many others by displaying the dialogue or transcript of the audio portion of the program as printed words on the television screen.
  • You can turn on closed captioning using either a set-top decoder or a caption-ready TV set.
  • To report an issue with closed captioning, please contact:
    • Jonathan Newsome, Director of Engineering, 7140 S Macadam Avenue Portland, OR 97219 Telephone: 800-241-8123, Option 3 Email: closedcaptions@opb.org (http://www.opb.org/contact) (include “closed captioning” in subject line)
    • Please make sure that your report includes all of the following:
      • your name, address, and other contact information, such as phone number or e-mail address;
      • the website address of the video (if applicable), or the TV channel number and call sign of the station broadcasting the program (if applicable);
      • the name of the subscription service, if you pay to receive television;
      • the date and time of the captioning problem;
      • a detailed explanation of the closed captioning problem;
      • the name of the program or video with the captioning problem; and
      • whether you would prefer to be contacted by email, regular mail or phone

Described Video Information (DVI)

  • Described Video Information is designed to assist people who are blind or visually impaired. In a program with described video, a narrator may describe the setting, identify who is speaking, relay action taking place and provide other relevant information. The description is carefully timed so that it does not interfere with the dialogue or program narration. Some OPB local productions have described video.
  • You can hear described video through OPB TV's Second Audio Program (SAP) channel.The SAP channel is accessed through the menu system of your television or cable box. Sometimes, your remote control will have a button labeled Audio or MTS or even SAP and you can use that button to navigate to descriptive video.

Accessing the SAP Channel

Check the Table of Contents in your TV manual for a listing of "Secondary Audio Programs," sometimes listed as SAP or MTS.

Once you have located that information, turn on your TV and tune to OPB.

Follow the directions in your TV manual to access the Secondary Audio Program Channel.