Ai-Media Launches Live Subtitling With UK’s GB News

Ai-Media, a global provider of live subtitling, transcription and translation solutions, has launched 24/7 live subtitling on GB News. The broadcaster becomes the first in the United Kingdom to simplify subtitle delivery with Ai-Media’s end-to-end subtitling technology and market leading infrastructure.

GB News, known as The People’s Channel, launched in 2021 to include more voices and opinions in the national conversation. It is available free on Sky, Virgin Media, Freeview, Freesat, YouView, via Apps, and on social media including GB News live feed on YouTube.

GB News now subtitles its 24/7 coverage with up to 98.5% accuracy thanks to Ai-Media’s Smart Lexi hybrid subtitling solution, which combines ASR automation with expert human curation. Smart Lexi subtitles are delivered to screens via Ai-Media’s iCap Encode Pro SDI encoder and its iCap Network, the largest and most reliable subtitle delivery network in the world, according to Ai-Media.

Trusted by major broadcasters worldwide, Ai-Media said its end-to-end subtitling technology and infrastructure “helps ensure simplified production workflows and reliable, low-latency subtitle display, while reducing operational costs.”

GB News decided to invest in subtitles due to its commitment to be accessible to all viewers across the UK, choosing Ai-Media for its ability to deliver high accuracy subtitles at significantly lower cost than traditional human subtitles.

Mark Lovatt Ai-Media’s general manager-global strategic accounts, said: “We are extremely pleased that GB News has become the first UK broadcaster to subtitle its 24/7 coverage with Ai-Media’s end-to-end range of subtitling technology and infrastructure. Ai-Media has for decades been the leading subtitling vendor for broadcasters in the EMEA, Americas and APAC regions, providing all the software, hardware and human services they need in one place.

“By partnering with Ai-Media, GB News will benefit from the best of our ASR technology, encoder hardware and subtitling infrastructure to simplify subtitle delivery and ensure accessibility for its millions of viewers in the U.K., Ireland and around the globe.”

GB News CEO Angelos Frangopoulos said the channel had been overwhelmed by viewer demand for subtitles. “As The People’s Channel, it is hugely important to us to include all voices across the United Kingdom, especially beyond London,” he said. “While we always planned subtitles, we brought them forward when viewers contacted us in their hundreds to request better accessibility to GB News.”

Stephen Willmott, GB News head of technology and operations, said the company chose Ai-Media’s Smart Lexi because it combines the speed of ASR automation with the accuracy of expert human curation. “The combination of AI technology with human oversight means that after an initial bedding down period, our captions will be 98.5% accurate,” he said. “We committed to this a while ago. It’s great to be able to launch them now and viewers have already told us how delighted they are.”