PITTSBURGH - Charges have been brought against Showtime Networks Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania by two men who say that Showtime violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by not having audio description tracks for video content to serve the blind and visually impaired people who want to use the platform.
Pennsylvania residents Robert Jahoda and Matthew Kolesar are two legally blind individuals who are frustrated with Showtime and haven't given the platform their patronage since it does not offer the audio description service, which is offered by competing streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu.
The plaintiffs state in a Feb. 1 complaint that Showtime has the ability to offer the service for the visually disabled but chooses not to, citing instances in which films that were available on other streaming services had the audio description service while the defendant didn't.
Showtime is sued with one count of substantive violation of Title III of the ADA, which states that no disabled people should be discriminated against when desiring a good or services based on their disability. Bruce Carlson of Carlson Lynch is the plaintiffs' lawyer.