The Challenge

Under pressure from legislation, Spanish state broadcaster RTVE urgently needed real-time subtitling for much of its live programming. Our Access Services team in Seville was perfectly placed to provide a solution.

The Solution

After establishing a secure media connection between our HQ in Seville and RTVE’s playout operation in Madrid, we ran a detailed training programme for our team of live subtitlers - or respeakers. The team had to be sufficient to cover a wide range of programmes including daily shows plus late night and weekend sports coverage.

The Result

Our initial team of 8 respeakers made their on-air debut in July 2009 creating live subtitles (a first for Spain) for a morning magazine show. Since then the range of programmes has increased in quantity and variety. Our team of respeakers, now 21 strong, provides over 150 hours of live subtitling every month.