ARD goes live with SysMedia Subtitling System

SysMedia has announced that German national broadcaster ARD has gone to live production with SysMedia’s WinCAPS subtitling system. ARD, along with regional counterpart for Berlin and Brandenburg Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), ordered the system late last year for both live and offline subtitling.
The system was first used in a live production environment to cover matches held in the Confederations Cup held on June 20th. The Confederations cup, held this year in Germany, is an international football tournament hosted by FIFA.
Matthias Nowak, Project Manager for ARD and RBB Text, explained that the WinCAPS system was purchased because of its ease of use when preparing either live or offline subtitles. In addition, the ability to use speech as the input mechanism via SysMedia’s SpeakTITLE software was highlighted by Novak as a key technology, especially in the live sports environment.
He adds, “We are happy that we could start to use the system at such a major sports event. This marks a new way of working for us and allows us to provide a new level of service for our viewers.”
The WinCAPS subtitling system was purchased as part of a larger order from the two broadcasters for a Plasma Magenta multi-platform teletext production system from SysMedia. Services driven by this technology will also launch shortly on both ARD and RBB, beginning with analogue teletext.
Colin Prior, Business Development Director with SysMedia, added: “We are excited that our WinCAPS technology was first used for such a major sporting event. We look forward to continuing our close collaboration and the launch of services in the future based on SysMedia technology.”
SysMedia is a UK-based company specialising in the design and supply of subtitling and content creation and distribution systems for teletext and digital interactive TV.
With over 30 years’ experience in the broadcast market, SysMedia’s technology is used by a wide range of customers including the BBC and BSkyB.
The company is also a leading supplier of specialist teletext signal generators for consumer electronics manufacturers.
SysMedia Subtitling System, www.sysmedia.com.
(SP)