ACCESSIBILITY

Accessibility features on The CW

We are committed to ensuring that our website is accessible to people with disabilities. We are working towards compliance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 at levels A and AA, and we welcome your feedback.

You can use accessibility features to help you navigate The CW app and cwtv.com. The CW supports the following features:

Closed captions

Full episodes on The CW can be watched with closed captions. When closed captions are on, audio is displayed as text on the screen (speech and sounds are transcribed into text).

During playback, you can turn closed captions on or off by choosing the Audio and Subtitles button (speech bubble).

We're working hard to provide closed captions on more content, like interviews and show trailers.

Screen readers

You can use screen readers to help you find and play titles on The CW. The following screen readers are supported by The CW.

Mobile devices (The CW app)

Computer (on cwtv.com)

TV (The CW app)

We're working to improve the screen reader experience on all supported TV devices.

Keyboard playback control 

You can use your keyboard to control playback on a computer. Here’s how:

  1. Start watching a show on cwtv.com and press the spacebar or p to open the playback control menu.
  2. Press Tab to move between items.
  3. Press Enter to choose the selected item.
  4. You can view a full list of keyboard playback controls below or by selecting the Player Shortcuts menu (keyboard icon).

Player Shortcuts:

  • Play/Pause: P or Spacebar
  • Full Screen: F
  • Exit Full Screen: F or Esc
  • Skip Back 5 Seconds: ←
  • Skip Ahead 5 Seconds: →
  • Jump Back 10 Seconds: J
  • Jump Ahead 10 Seconds: L
  • Restart: 0 or Home
  • Skip to the End: End
  • Volume Up: ↑
  • Volume Down: ↓
  • Mute Audio: M
  • Toggle Closed Captions: C
  • Decrease Caption Size: −
  • Increase Caption Size: = or +
  • Cycle Caption Text Preset: B
  • Show Keyboard Controls: ? or /

Voice commands

You can use Alexa voice commands to find and play titles on Amazon Fire TV devices. To learn more, see Amazon Support.

Siri dictation

You can use speech-to-text to search for shows or movies on your Apple TV.

  1. Open The CW on your Apple TV and choose the Search icon.
  2. Press and hold the microphone on your remote.
  3. Speak your search term into the remote. You can search The CW by title, genre, actors, and more.

Audio description

Audio description is an alternate audio track that describes what’s happening on-screen (for example, a detailed narration of the scene or action that’s taking place). The CW does not currently offer any content with audio description, but we will update this page in the future when audio description is added for more series.

Play titles with audio descriptions

If a show or movie has audio descriptions, you can choose “Descriptive Audio" or "Multiple Languages" for the audio track. 

Here's how to turn on audio descriptions:

Mobile/Tablet

With a screen reader

  1. Start playing a show or movie, then double-tap the screen to open the player menu.
  2. Swipe to move the focus to Audio and Subtitles, then double-tap to select it (this opens the Audio and Subtitles menu).
  3. Swipe to move the focus to "Descriptive Audio" or "Multiple Languages" (in the Audio section, if available), then double-tap to select it.
  4. Swipe to move the focus to Close Audio and Subtitle Settings, then double-tap to select it.

Without a screen reader

  1. Start playing a show or movie, then tap the screen to open the player controls.
  2. In the upper-right corner, tap the Audio and Subtitles button (speech bubble).
  3. In the Audio section, tap "Descriptive Audio" or "Multiple Languages" (if available) and then tap X to close.
  4. To turn off audio descriptions, re-open the Audio and Subtitles menu and choose the original language in the Audio section.

Desktop / cwtv.com:

With a screen reader or keyboard navigation:

Keyboard shortcuts: When browsing The CW on your computer, you can use tab to move the focus and enter to select.)

  1. Start playing a show or movie, then press spacebar or p to pause playback.
  2. Move the focus to Audio and Subtitles, then select it (this opens the Audio and Subtitles menu).
  3. Move the focus to "Descriptive Audio" (if available, in the Audio section), then select it.
  4. Move the focus to Close Audio and Subtitle Settings, then select it. 

With a mouse

  1. Start playing something, then click the screen.
  2. In the lower-right corner, click the Audio and Subtitles button.
  3. In the Audio section, choose "Descriptive Audio" (if available), then click X to close.
  4. To turn off audio descriptions, re-open the Audio and Subtitles menu and choose the original language in the Audio section.

You can turn on audio descriptions on the following TV devices:

  • Amazon Fire TV
  • Android TV
  • Apple TV
  • Roku TV
  • LG TV
  • Vizio TV

We’re working to expand audio descriptions to all supported devices.

Apple TV

To turn on audio descriptions:

  1. Start playing a show or movie, then swipe down on the Apple TV remote to bring up the menu.
  2. Swipe right on your remote to move the focus to the Audio tab.
  3. Swipe down to move the focus to "Multiple Languages" (if available, in the Language section) then select it. To turn off audio descriptions, swipe down to open the menu and choose the original language on the Audio tab. 

Other TV devices

To turn on audio descriptions:

  1. Start playing a show or movie and then pause playback to bring up the player menu.
  2. Using your remote, move the focus to Audio and Subtitles (speech bubble) and select it (this opens the Audio and Subtitle menu).
  3. Move the focus to English - "Descriptive Audio" or "Multiple Languages" (if available, in the Audio section) then select it. To turn off audio descriptions, re-open the Audio and Subtitles menu and choose the original language in the Audio section. 

Have a Question?

To submit an Accessibility question or feedback, please Submit a Request here: https://support.cwtv.com/hc/en-us/requests/new