Closed Captions VS Subtitles
Providing closed captions is a law. Subtitles do not have to be provided
Broadcasters, cable companies, and satellite television service providers must provide closed captioning for 100% of all new, non-exempt, English language video programming. Closed captioning must also be provided for televised emergency information in some locations. These closed captioning requirements are enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under the authority of the Communications Act.
So basically everything now has closed captioning. By law all TVs must support closed captioning. I have three new TVs hooked up with HDMI only and they all output closed captions if the source, Cable box, DVD player, even the old VHS recorder, provide it.
Here is the technical difference between closed captions and subtitles and yes closed captions are designed for hearing impaired people and subtitles are not.
If you are someone who shops for cheaper DVD's in Europe, you should know that European nations, such as the UK and Ireland, make no significant distinction between subtitles and closed captions.
However, in the U.S. and Canada, subtitles are meant to be translations of the feature's dialogue and assume that audiences can hear. They are especially handy for viewing silent films or movies in foreign languages. Popular movies, especially those sold in European nations, are often offered with subtitles in a dozen languages or more.
In North America, closed captioning (without getting into tech specifications) is different from subtitles in the respect that it is meant to replace sound, not just dialogue.