Subtitles

I use subtitles a lot; mainly when I’m watching TV with the volume turned down so as not to disturb anyone; or when the a noisy appliance is in operation in the kitchen. I’ve always wondered how they do subtitles on TV, and a recent incident calling a northern football team as scumbags instead of comma brought these thoughts into focus. I’ve always thought that during live broadcasts there’d be someone typing furiously away in the background; which explains the inevitable delay and the occasional mistake and the lag. But nowadays it’s done by dictation. It’s odd enough that a subtitler needs to say the word comma. And this match was actually a replay; so you’d have thought that the text for the commentary had already been proofread between recording and publication. Yet many broadcasters choose not to prepare their subtitles beforehand. You’d have thought that this would save them a lot of money; especially with repeat programmes.