Denmark's TV2 Selects SysMedia for Regional Subtitling

As part of the new systems, a WinCAPS newsroom interface imports scripts directly from the local iNews or ENPS newsroom system. Live subtitling of unscripted content is performed using the respeaking technique with the Nuance Speech Magic speech recognition engine, as used at DR and TV2 Denmark, feeding the dedicated SpeakTITLE module in WinCAPS.

Olav Helms, Technical Project Manager with TV2 Midt-Vest, says, “We use a combination of live (re-spoken) subtitles and subtitles based on the scripts from the newsroom systems. Quite a lot of the news is prepared very close to-air, so up to 80 per cent of the content may need to be re-spoken. If there’s time in advance then of course we prepare as much as we can.”

In some of the regions there’s an 8-10 minute feature slot and subtitles for this are prepared in advance. Helms continues, “WinCAPS handles the switch between live re-speaking and prepared subtitles very well and with minimum effort, which is important to us as we have to do it several times during a broadcast, ”

John Boulton, SysMedia’s Subtitling Products Manager, adds, “The particular challenges of subtitling news and other live programmes are well known to SysMedia. Having previously provided systems to both DR and TV2/Denmark, it’s very pleasing to see WinCAPS now being adopted by the TV2 regions as well. Subtitling target levels for deaf and hard of hearing viewers are growing across Europe, affecting both national and regional broadcasters. With over 30 years of expertise in this field, SysMedia is well placed to offer proven, class-leading solutions that deliver quality subtitles as efficiently as possible. Speech recognition technology is a vital ingredient for live subtitling, and we urge more national governments to follow the Danish lead when setting mandated subtitling obligations, and also to help finance development of suitable language models if they do not already exist.”

About SysMedia

SysMedia manufactures products for the broadcast television industry to produce and transmit value-add content such as subtitling and closed captioning, teletext, digital text services and interactive TV. With over 30 years of experience in this specialised sector, customers include BBC, BSkyB, Red Bee Media, Ascent Media, Technicolor, Teletext Ltd, ARD, RTÉ, TVNZ and over 100 others in more than 25 countries worldwide. SysMedia is also a leading supplier of specialist teletext signal generators for consumer electronics manufacturers.