The deaf community is suing Channel 2's Israeli News Company for NIS 750 million, for allegedly violating their legal obligation to provide closed captions (subtitles) and translation into sign language in their broadcasts.

The suit was filed by Doron Levy, a sign-language teacher and chairman of the Association of the Deaf in Israel, who asked the court to recognize it as a representative suit in the name of 50,000 people who are hearing-impaired and hard of hearing in Israel.

The Association of the Deaf says the News Company and franchisees Reshet and Keshet have been violating the law enacted in 2005, which obliges them to modify their broadcasts for deaf people. Levy is demanding an NIS 5,000 compensation for each of the 50,000 hearing-impaired persons from each franchisee, whom he accuses of "cynically and bluntly violating specific obligations imposed on them."

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The captions and sign language law is based on the recognition that people with disabilities are equal to the rest of society and have a right to receive information and take part in public discourse, a considerable part of which takes place on the television screen.

The law sets a graded timetable for adjusting broadcasts for the hearing-impaired over a few years. It stipulates that in 2006 at least 40 percent of broadcasting time of recorded TV programs, and at least 50 percent of the recorded programs broadcast during prime time, must include closed captions. At least one central news edition in one channel must be translated to sign language every night, as well as one daily program for pre-school children, according to the law.

The Second Authority issued rules obliging the franchisees and the News Company to broadcast a certain number of programs with closed captions before the captions law came into effect.

However, the authority's annual reports and its legal adviser's response to the Association of the Deaf show that Channel 2 has not been keeping all the law's clauses.

The authority's legal adviser Jack Cohen admits that the News Company does not provide closed captions for even half of the news reports in its main edition and does not translate main news editions to sign language on a daily basis.

The News Company commented that it was now "upgrading and taking care of" the captions' issue.