Hartford, CT - Making state government more accessible to the general public has been the charge of the Connecticut Network, the state of Connecticut public affairs channel, for more than eight years. Earlier this month CT-N received special acknowledgment for expanding that accessibility to an often underserved audience.

On June 7, Independence Unlimited, a leading advocacy organization for people with disabilities, presented CT-N with its Media Image Award in recognition of the network's efforts to provide closed captions for the hearing impaired on its state government and public affairs coverage.

CT-N's captioning has increased knowledge and awareness of issues facing our state and helped Connecticut's citizens who are deaf or hard of hearing make better informed decisions about the issues affecting our lives, according to Candace Low, the Executive Director of Independence Unlimited.

This award comes six months after the network had implemented closed captioning on 100% of its programming. Unlike conventional broadcasters, CT-N is not subject to most FCC requirements to provide captions and has done so voluntarily since 2005.

We realized early on that the Connecticut Network's efforts to connect people and government would never be fully realized until its programming was fully accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing, commented William Bevacqua, CT-N's Director of Communications and Marketing. Closed captioning more than 2,000 hours a year of original programming presented a challenge, but the dedication and innovation shown by our staff as well as our partners within the deaf and hard of hearing community itself have allowed us to achieve that goal. All of us at CT-N are grateful to Independence Unlimited for the honor they have bestowed, and hope that we will continue to live up to the level of trust and confidence they have placed in us.

CT-N's captioning initiative began in early 2005 with a limited pilot project to test the viability of echo captioning, which combines trained technicians with special voice recognition software to produce closed captions. This led to a more extensive pilot in 2006 and ultimately resulted in the full implementation of closed captioning in January 2007.

CT-N is available full-time on expanded basic cable statewide. Visit ct-n.com to find the channel location for the network in your community or to watch online. All Connecticut Network programming is closed captioned for the hearing impaired.

Launched in March of 1999 and winner of the 2007 Helen M. Loy Freedom of Information Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, Connecticut Network is the state's source for complete and balanced television and webcast coverage of state government and public affairs. For more information, visit CT-N's website at www.ct-n.com.