BBC iPlayer subtitles increase: our early Christmas present to hard of hearing people
It's been an amazing year for iPlayer, as the recent iPlayer day has shown.
As the person responsible for ensuring that iPlayer is giving the best experience it can to disabled audiences, I thought it would be worth looking back at how far we've come this year in the provision of subtitles for the service.
Before I look back on the year, I think it's worth looking at the history of subtitling on TV, just for comparison.
While the BBC Television Service started broadcasting in 1936, the first subtitled BBC programme became available in 1979 - a documentary about deaf children called 'Quietly in Switzerland' via the Ceefax service. It took until 1986 for us to subtitle our first live programme (an episode of Blue Peter), with the subtitling of news programmes following in 1990. And we finally achieved the landmark of having 100% of our programmes across the main BBC TV channels available with subtitles in May 2008.
So that's the story for broadcast TV. What about iPlayer?
Well, back when I started my role in February, the situation didn't look good - subtitles had been suspended from the iPlayer launch in December 2007 because a robust subtitling solution wasn't ready for launch.
However, since then, we have evolved the service immensely.
We introduced subtitles for download in May, and for the streaming service (above) at the end of June. And since then we have been working to get workflows in place to ensure subtitles can be delivered for iPlayer no matter how and when the programme in question is delivered to the Operations team, and for as many of the devices that Alex Nunes mentions in his iPlayer day blog as we can. While this is complex task, we have delivered new workflows to increase the amount of programmes with subtitles progressively since June.
And I'm delighted to announce that, in the last few days, we have launched new workflows to make subtitles available for two more categories of programme: live programmes (except those from BBC News and BBC Parliament channels, which we are still working on); and time-sensitive programmes which tend to change hours before transmission, and so have subtitles produced sometimes minutes before broadcast.
Since the workflows went live, our monitoring has found that they have increased the percentage of programmes with subtitles on iPlayer to over 90% today.
Please note that these new categories of programme will only have subtitles available in Flash Video format, as used in streaming and downloads using the new BBC iPlayer Desktop - downloads of these programmes via the old iPlayer Download Manager will not include subtitles, due to the limitations of the technology used in the Download Manager.
Please also note that, due to the separation between the workflows used to encode the programme and its subtitles on iPlayer, on occasions there can be a small window of time between a programme becoming available and its subtitles becoming available - if you find a programme does not have subtitles available, we'd encourage you to try again an hour later when the subtitles may be available.
I'd like to thank my colleagues in the iPlayer team (especially James Hewines, Alex Nunes, Steve Buttling-Smith, Marcus Box, Mary McCarthy, Ashley Hindmarsh, and Kemi Idowu), Andrew Strachan and David Kirby who did initial R&D, and the Operations Team for all of their hard work in making this possible.
In 2009, our aim is to continue leading the field of accessible video-on-demand services by doing further integration and innovation work to improve the subtitles you get from iPlayer. Key areas of investigation we have planned include:
- Improved live subtitle synchronisation - live subtitles on iPlayer, at present, are based on those from broadcast TV and we are still working on ensuring that the time-lag between speech and subtitles, which is a limitation of the current live subtitling broadcast process and the current online repurposing process, is reduced as much as reasonably possible to improve the experience of watching live subtitles online
- Colour - improving the iPlayer's media player so it can display the colours currently used in broadcast subtitles to indicate different speakers
- Inclusion of subtitles for more regional BBC programmes
- Inclusion of subtitles for live programmes from BBC News and BBC Parliament channels
- Inclusion of subtitles on BBC channels simulcast on bbc.co.uk
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the much greater amount of programmes with subtitles we now have available.
Jonathan Hassell is Head of Audience Experience & Usability.
Comment number 1.
At 19:29 23rd Dec 2008, Olly Benson wrote:Hi Jonathan,
That's fantastic news about subtitles.
A techie question asked by a non-techie... are the subtitles a seperate flash movie or are they superimposed over the non-subtitled movie?
I work for a charity (www.youthnet.org) and like many charities we want to add optional subtitles to our videos, but there doesn't seem a standard way of doing this. Is this some technology/knowhow the BBC would be prepared to share?
Best wishes, and happy Christmas...
Olly
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Comment number 2.
At 19:49 23rd Dec 2008, Briantist wrote:So close to the Semantic Web, but so far. Put the damn subtitle file on the relevant/programmes page and Google will find them, then you could search for any phrase you heard in a TV programme.
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Comment number 3.
At 08:52 24th Dec 2008, Shaun wrote:I agree with Briantist, if the subtitles text was indexed by Google we could search TV shows - something I believe Google has been trying to do for a while.
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Comment number 4.
At 23:54 24th Dec 2008, Ed Lyons wrote:I'm sure we'll see the subtitles accessible to Google at some point. I'm not sure if there are rights issues surrounding the subtitles though... They can currently be accessed as XML files I believe.
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Comment number 5.
At 10:43 25th Dec 2008, U6679583 wrote:Are you sure 1986 was the first live subtitles broadcast? I distinctly remember watching the royal wedding in 1981 with live subtitles. Which were almost unintelligable!
Merry Xmas to all.
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Comment number 6.
At 14:42 30th Dec 2009, Kenny Miller wrote:Jonathan, thanks for this update, it is very useful particularly the bit that says that the old download manager will not allow subtitles to be shown, presumably that is why I still can't get subtitles, it doesn't seem to explain why I can't get them on I-Player without downloading. I have been using I-Player almost since it was launched and have found it very frustrating as a person with hearing difficulties to follow programmes without subtitles.
It angers me to think that the solution appears to be a simple download of new software whichI haven't been asked to download even though I use the I-Player regularly. Surely the BBC has a responsibility to keep the licence fee payers informed on such an important subject for people with hearing difficulties, it seems to be judged to be sufficient to slip it in the middle of your blog as if we all knew about it already - well we don't! Please can you let me know on this Blog how one should access the new software?
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Comment number 7.
At 23:24 1st Jan 2009, jgjones wrote:steppsman - perhaps the blog post should have been clearer but as far as I am aware, the new iPlayer Desktop is in beta hence it not being announced for folks such as yourself.
Jonathan - an issue with iPlayer Desktop...
I do not get subtitles with downloaded files on the iPlayer Desktop even though the streaming version does have subtitles. This is on Ubuntu. Auto-install of iPlayer Desktop did work flawlessly - I was impressed with that.
I've not yet tested it on Windows or OSX yet.
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Comment number 8.
At 17:18 2nd Jan 2009, mrFunction wrote:iPlayer Desktop doesn't support subtitles yet, but it will by the time it's out of beta, if not earlier.
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Comment number 9.
At 14:06 4th Jan 2009, Josh wrote:mrFunction - Thanks! I was wondering about that myself, too.
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Comment number 10.
At 10:23 5th Jan 2009, jonathanhassell wrote:stepsmann - I'm sorry if my blog wasn't clear enough. To use subtitles on iPlayer all you have to do is press the 'S' button that appears in the controls when you play an iPlayer programme on the site. This is the streaming form of the programme, so does not require you to download the programme or any other software to access the subtitles.
The same subtitles that are available using this facility will be available for downloads when BBC iPlayer Desktop comes out of beta.
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Comment number 11.
At 13:12 7th Jan 2009, Sue_Aitch wrote:Could this blog be compressed and appear on the Read Hear pages on Ceefax/Red Button sometime as ther may be D/deaf and hard of hearing who haven't yet found this out?
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Comment number 12.
At 20:47 9th Apr 2009, buckyuk_uk wrote:I love the Iplayer subtitles because I have a really old rubbish computer in work that doesnt have any sound... And this way I can pass the 12 hour nightshifts no problem, any hey, you can even go back to watch it from where you fell asleep hehe.
[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]Alan
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Comment number 13.
At 11:15 8th May 2009, oldgifford wrote:Dear BBC,
Please consider helping the hard of hearing to listen again to your radio broadcasts. A case in point, Old Harry's Game, surely one of the best comedy programmes on the radio. The hard of hearing can follow some of this but the speech it is often too fast to assimilate. It would be great if you could have such programmes subtitled in the player or as a quick alternative please consider making the scripts and transcripts available in a separate window. I would be most happy to test such a trial.
Regards OldGifford
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Comment number 14.
At 20:30 15th May 2009, wisebills wrote:My dad, who has just turned 65 (Not that old at all!) started watching programs with the subtitles on about a year ago. He's not deaf at all, but he prefers to see what people are saying on the screen. When I first saw this, I thought, oh my god, my dad is getting old....! BUT! I have now come round to his point of view and thinking. I am 32 and I have started watching programmes with the subtitles on too!!! Some programs just need it. So, I feel subtitles for iplayer is a major step forward. There are a huge number of people out there in need of it, not just deaf of the hard of hearing.
[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]John
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Comment number 15.
At 16:50 22nd May 2009, David-Whitehouse wrote:Are there any plans yet to make these subtitles searchable by Google, Yahoo etc. ?
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Comment number 16.
At 22:08 31st May 2009, ravedid wrote:The subtitles resources on BBC iPlayer Even the news programs will be adding subtitles and watching these shows will be easy for all [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]jill
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Comment number 17.
At 21:55 1st Jun 2009, charismaseeker wrote:Please also note that, due to the separation between the workflows used to encode the programme and its subtitles on iPlayer, on occasions there can be a small window of time between a programme becoming available and its subtitles becoming available - if you find a programme does not have subtitles available, we'd encourage you to try again an hour later when the subtitles may be available. I like this iPlayer a lot. [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]Mike
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Comment number 20.
At 07:48 12th Jun 2009, Will wrote:This is such a great initiative. I am losing hearing in one ear and hope the ABC in Australia can follow suit.
[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]Will
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Comment number 23.
At 15:29 6th Jul 2009, zuzzer wrote:Another positive angle to look at this is for non native english speakers. My wife finds these subtitles really helpful especially when the actors have regional accents; Gavin and Stacey is a good example. Her language is phonetic so the subtitles reinforce the word recognition for her and overall they have helped her english a great deal.[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]Bill
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Comment number 24.
At 19:52 7th Jul 2009, jumphighernow wrote:This should arrive in the US soon. Hopefully iPlayer will make its way into Canada (I haven't stumbled upon it yet, anyone aware of its arrival?). This way I can watch it on the train without headphones! [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]Pat
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Comment number 25.
At 08:21 8th Jul 2009, timpro wrote:@zunner: agree with you, I am a non English speaker too, these subtitles help me a lots to understand BBC's clips. [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]Tim
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At 14:15 8th Jul 2009, betseyjhonson wrote:The subtitles resources on BBC iPlayer Even the news programs will be adding subtitles and watching these shows will be easy for all
Regards,
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Comment number 39.
At 10:26 17th Sep 2009, queen-marjoram wrote:Hi - I just read about what you guys are doing. As someone with a deaf brother I can totally relate to how important this is for a lot of web users.
He spends a lot of time in america so can't access stuff from the BBC to take advantage of the great work you're doing - do you think this is technology you could license out to other networks?
Massive thanks though from him for your work - he can finally catch up with Life On Mars!
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