*Ericsson to provide live captioning services for Australian News Channel (ANC)’s SKY NEWS LIVE and SKY NEWS BUSINESS available in 2.8 million subscribing homes
*Contract also includes captioning services for SKY NEWS’ in-flight news bulletins for airline Qantas
*Ericsson now provides captioning services for four of the six national TV news outlets in Australia
Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC, news, filings) today announces that it has signed a multi-year news captioning contract with ANC, Australia’s leading 24-hour multi-channel, multi-platform news service provider. Ericsson will provide live captioning services for SKY NEWS LIVE and SKY NEWS BUSINESS, which are broadcast to 2.8 million subscribing homes across Australia on subscription television provider Foxtel.
As part of the contract, Ericsson will also provide captioning services for SKY NEWS-produced bulletins on Qantas flights. The captions will be delivered as an as-live service to ensure the news is as current and up-to-date as possible.
Ericsson now provides captioning services for four of the six national TV news outlets in Australia.
Angelos Frangopoulos, CEO, ANC, says: “We look forward to working with Ericsson to expand our captioning services and explore new technology to further improve the quality and availability of live captioning.”
Thorsten Sauer, Head of Broadcast and Media Services, Ericsson, says: “As a leading news provider in Australia, it is important that SKY NEWS’ captioning services match the quality of its editorial output. Our market-leading live captioning platform allows us to do this, by delivering the highest levels of service and quality to both our client and their audiences.
“For the first time, Ericsson’s captions will also be made available on an airline, ensuring that the latest news from SKY NEWS will be accessible to as many Qantas air passengers as possible the world over.”
Ericsson’s live captioning platform made its debut at the IBC2014 event. The real-time platform supports live captioning in various languages for broadcasters around the world by using speech-to-text, newsroom integration and rapid offline content preparation.
The enterprise-level, schedule-driven software platform, which was developed in-house, uses the best possible speech recognition and stenography technologies to power Ericsson’s live captioning services. It allows multiple captioners to prepare and deliver real-time services for clients while maximizing re-use of the caption data after it has been broadcast – for example, by helping to power content discovery and enrich archive search. The platform is currently being used to deliver live captioning services for major broadcast clients around the world.
Ericsson’s closed captioning business is one of the largest in the world, with hubs in Australia, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and the US. Ericsson has been providing captioning services for over 30 years and delivers 200,000 hours of captions every year, 80,000 of which are live. It is also the world’s largest provider of TV audio description and sign-language translation.
More information about Ericsson’s Broadcast and Media Services portfolio can be found here.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About SKY NEWS
The SKY NEWS channels are owned and operated by Australian News Channel Pty Ltd; a joint venture company of Nine Entertainment Company, Seven West Media and Sky PLC. It operates SKY NEWS LIVE, SKY NEWS Business, SKY NEWS Weather, SKY NEWS Multiview, A-PAC Australia’s Public Affairs Channel, SKY NEWS New Zealand and Australia Channel. www.skynews.com.au
Broadcast and Media Services press backgrounder
For media kits, backgrounders and high-resolution photos, please visit www.ericsson.com/press
Ericsson is the driving force behind the Networked Society – a world leader in communications technology and services. Our long-term relationships with every major telecom operator in the world allow people, business and society to fulfill their potential and create a more sustainable future.
Our services, software and infrastructure – especially in mobility, broadband and the cloud – are enabling the telecom industry and other sectors to do better business, increase efficiency, improve the user experience and capture new opportunities.
With approximately 115,000 professionals and customers in 180 countries, we combine global scale with technology and services leadership. We support networks that connect more than 2.5 billion subscribers. Forty percent of the world’s mobile traffic is carried over Ericsson networks. And our investments in research and development ensure that our solutions – and our customers – stay in front.
Founded in 1876, Ericsson has its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Net sales in 2014 were SEK 228.0 billion (USD 33.1 billion). Ericsson is listed on NASDAQ OMX stock exchange in Stockholm and the NASDAQ in New York.
www.ericsson.com
www.ericsson.com/news
www.twitter.com/ericssonpress
www.facebook.com/ericsson
www.youtube.com/ericsson
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
Ericsson Corporate Communications
Phone: +46 10 719 69 92
E-mail: media.relations@ericsson.com
Ericsson Investor Relations
Phone: +46 10 719 00 00
PR Archives: Latest, By Company, By Date