A recently filed lawsuit claims the lack of podcast transcriptions on SiriusXM, Stitcher, and Pandora violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by excluding the deaf and hard of hearing.
The lawsuit (PDF) was filed by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Dec. 9. SiriusXM as well as its Stitcher and Pandora subsidiaries are all listed as defendants.
“Because Defendants do not make transcripts or captions available for any of the podcasts offered on their platforms,” NAD says, “more than 48 million deaf and hard of hearing Americans are denied full and equal enjoyment of the content they offer their hearing users.”
NAD and DAR say in their complaint that the lack of podcast transcriptions on SiriusXM, Stitcher, and Pandora can be particularly vexing because all three platforms have invested in original content that can’t be found elsewhere or signed exclusivity deals with independent creators.
“By combining exclusive content, original content, and third-party content,” they say in the lawsuit, “Defendants provide their hearing customers a one-stop shop for exploring, discovering, downloading, subscribing, and managing most or all of the podcasts they will consume.”
NAD and DAR also say that means the companies’ “failure to provide transcripts for nearly all of the original and third-party podcast content available through each of their podcast streaming services, even when transcripts are available from third-party podcast producers, denies deaf and hard-of-hearing persons access to the benefits Defendants offer their hearing users.”
The lawsuit primarily seeks injunctions that would require SiriusXM, Stitcher, and Pandora to “provide transcripts for all of their podcast content and to affirmatively market the availability of transcripts to deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals” and make their websites more accessible.
SiriusXM didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
