Gift Cards: In answer to criticism, I offer this defense.
Closed Captioning: I recently obtained a new television, though my old one still works -- it is rather old, and I sometimes have an image of it giving up its last breath, and not having one. The time between football and baseball season is a good time for this to happen. Anyway, new models have closed captioning, and it is the major value of having a new set. The value of this requirement might be considered questionable, since not too many people are deaf, but many more have hearing problems and/or would benefit from the service. I reckon surely at least ten percent of the population, perhaps more.
I enjoy it for various reasons, including seeing what is being said when the audio isn't totally clear (including opening music), and not having to listen to annoying voices (this might make Charlie Rose easier to bear). The other benefit, besides a somewhat clearer picture, is that if I accidentally turn on/off the t.v. before the dish box, I do not hear the loud blare of t.v. fuzz. A new movie suggests such fuzz might be a way to communicate with the dead, so this might help things along, especially if closed captioning works here as well. Sadly, I think it would be one of the times when it wasn't available, but who knows how the afterlife feels about such things.