While I gloss over the XML file that you end up with when getting the captions, note that they are timestamped with a “start” attribute which is important for longer videos. Point being, transcripts from broadcast programs will soon be pretty clean and the screencast above is a way that you can quickly grab them from clips posted to the likes of YouTube.

July 1, 2017, for video clips of live and near-live TV programming (such as news or sporting events).January 1, 2017, where a single file contains multiple straight lift video clips (“montages”).January 1, 2016, where the video clip contains a single excerpt of a captioned TV program with the same video and audio that was shown on TV (“straight lift” clips).Here are the dates that Internet clips previously shown on TV must be captioned ( via the FCC): More important is that the FCC timeline for US broadcasters to provide better captions is fast approaching.

This is helpful if you don’t want to sit through a 45 minute talk to see if there’s something in it of note. While the auto-generated captions are often hit and - mostly - miss, they usually give a general sense of what’s being said. Screencast: How to Extract YouTube Captions

Extract transcript from youtube video