RWC made its debut in 1997 as part of regular feature film presentations in American movie theatres, allowing people with hearing loss to attend movies and view captions on a personal screen. The device replicates the look of open captions by displaying captions on clear Perspex which is placed between the viewer and the screen.
In Groves' interview with Goldberg he talks about how a range of options to watch captioned movies is a good thing, in reference to other cinema access technologies such as Sony’s Entertainment Access Glasses and CaptiView. He also hints at changes to Rear Window Captioning licensing fees which potentially could widen market opportunities for WGBH.
Currently, the only access provided for Deaf and hearing impaired people on Maltese television is a five minute news update with sign language broadcast each day. In cinemas, open captioned sessions are few and far between, with most occurring at inconvenient times.
