Netflix to caption all content for deaf audience

BOSTON -- Netflix will offer closed captions on all TV and movie content by 2014 after a deaf Massachusetts viewer sued the company.

The on-demand Internet streaming service agreed to a settlement in U.S. district court in Springfield on Tuesday.

Closed captions are currently available on 90 percent of hours watched on Netflix, including many of its most popular programs.

A Netflix spokesman says the company is an industry leader and offering high quality captioning on the more than 1,000 devices on which Netflix is available is a "tall order."

In the meantime, Netflix will display a list of available close-captioned content.

Massachusetts resident Lee Nettles, along with national and regional associations for the deaf and hearing impaired, sued Netflix in 2010 under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability.