New MediaScribe Captioning Service from Tightrope Boosts Accessibility and Cuts Costs for County TV Operations

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, March 25, 2025 – MediaScribe, the new real-time transcription and translation solution from Tightrope Media Systems that will be demonstrated at the 2025 NAB Show (Booth W2615) next month, is already helping two organizations improve government meeting accessibility for their constituencies in-chamber and across their livestreams.

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Contra Costa Television (CCTV), the flagship of six cable channels serving Contra Costa County, CA, which has more than 1.1 million residents, is utilizing the system’s closed captioning capabilities.

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In January, CCTV switched from a costly live captioning service to MediaScribe. “We were paying $120 an hour for live captioning, and an average meeting is about eight hours because we do the Board of Supervisors meetings,” said Christiana Altimari, CCTV programming director. The result has been significant cost savings, particularly for longer meetings. CCTV is also considering MediaScribe’s live translation service for its Spanish-speaking constituents.

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Initially, there were concerns about AI accuracy. “We’ve got speakers who have very heavy accents,” Altimari explained. “But MediaScribe’s been really consistent and it’s been faster, honestly, than most of the live captures. I’d say it’s at least 95% accurate. As far as feedback from the clerk of the board, she’s been super happy.”

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Meanwhile, the South Washington County Telecommunications Commission (SWCTC), the cable TV franchising authority operating seven cable access channels in more than 20,000 homes across four Minnesota cities and a township located to the southeast of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, has been using MediaScribe to provide in-room transcriptions during since late 2024. Previously, the SWCTC had tried to rig its own in-room transcription system, but the purpose-built MediaScribe has provided far better results.

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“On our end, it’s so easy,” explained Lonnie Garland, SWCTC technical manager. “You start it before the meeting starts and you stop it when it’s over. Other than signing it into a room monitor, it’s super simple. It shows up on the screen and my part-time operator doesn’t have to do anything.”

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Garland is already seeing the value of MediaScribe for hearing-impaired residents who attend meetings. The SWCTC may also offer MediaScribe as a service during training sessions in the future. He also said MediaScribe also aligns with the equity plans for Woodbury, one of the cities under the SWCTC’s authority. Garland said there are large Indian and Somali populations in the area, so MediaScribe’s real-time translations could be part of a future technology and compliance roadmap.

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The new MediaScribe hybrid service uses a hardware interface and cloud-based AI captioning with automatic speech recognition (ASR) to cost-effectively convert speech into text for in-room transcriptions, real-time captions, open captions, mobile captions, and translations. A simple user interface allows non-technical staff to use the system, while a custom vocabulary improves accuracy with the names of local streets and public figures. MediaScribe can also help community media centers and PEG stations comply with new ADA accessibility requirements that will begin to take effect in Spring 2026.‍

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About Tightrope Media Systems

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‍For more than 25 years, Tightrope Media Systems has been providing video distribution and media accessibility solutions that help government and community organizations deliver timely messaging to the right people in the right place at the right time. Its Cablecast community media multiplatform playout automation simplifies video distribution for cable channels, websites, and mobile and OTT streaming devices. And its MediaScribe all-in-one solution provides broadcast and in-room captioning, real-time translation, and meeting transcription. Find out more at www.trms.com or call (612) 866-4118.