What are subtitles?
(This applies to Sky digital only)
Subtitling for deaf and hearing impaired viewers delivers words on screens that represent all elements of a film or television programme soundtrack, including the spoken words, music and other sound effects that are an important part of the programme.
Sky has been providing subtitling since 1993 and now feature over 420,000 hours of subtitling a year on our channels.
What does Sky do?
Sky provides subtitles on the following channels:
• All Sky Box Office Movies
• Sky Movies
• Sky News (20 hours a day)
• Sky 1
• Sky 2
• Sky 3
• Sky Sports
• Sky Sports News
How is it done?
Live - We work with our team of subtitlers handling live programming. They tend to work in pairs, producing subtitles for Sky Sports, Sky News and Sky Sports News channels.
The subtitler listens to the commentary being spoken and then re-voices it, while still listening to what is going on. Their version is automatically and simultaneously displayed on your screen.
In January 2006 Sky moved to re-voicing for live subtitles and no longer types them manually.
Pre-recorded - Copies of the programmes are given to skilled subtitlers who work on them. The subtitling is then added to the master tape ready for broadcasting to your home.
How do you get it?
You can find out which programmes carry subtitles via the ‘Highlighted Programmes’ option. This is how it works:
• Press the ‘services’ button at the top of your remote control
• Then press number 4 for SYSTEM SETUP
• Press number 3 for LANGUAGE & SUBTITLES
• Highlight ‘Subtitles’ and use the right/left arrow key to change to ‘ON’
• Use the down arrow key to highlight ‘Highlighted Programmes’, and use the left/right arrow key change to ‘SUBTITLES’
• Highlight ‘Save New Settings’ and press ‘select’ on your remote
• You can return to your TV channel by pressing the ‘Sky’ button
So now, when you press ‘tv guide’ on your remote control, you will be able to see which programmes have subtitles because the programme titles will be highlighted against a white background (instead of blue). When you select the programme, the subtitles will automatically appear.
What to do now?
To see which Sky programmes have subtitles over the coming week take a look at our TV Guide: http://www.jointhebiggerpicture.com/IncludingEveryone/Accessibility/TVGuide.aspx (opens in a new window)