Closed Captioning | DISNEY THIS DAY | March 16, 1980

Closed Captioning | DISNEY THIS DAY | March 16, 1980

On this day in 1980, the first television shows with closed captioning aired in the United States. ‘Disney’s Wonderful World’ on NBC was one of three programs to include the new technology. The episode that night was the animated film, ‘The Rescuers.’ The ABC Sunday Night Movie, ‘Force 10 from Navarone,’ and ‘Masterpiece Theatre’ on PBS also featured closed captioning for the first time. A decoder box was needed to view the captions, available at Sears for $250. [45 years ago in 2025]