OPTIONAL SUBTITLES FOR BBC ALBA CAN BE IMPLEMENTED - WE HAVE THE CAPACITY - BBC TRUST
NEW INFO RECEIVED: Scotland’s only Gaelic channel - in 2015, we do not have to wait to end the discriminatory policy of burnt-in English subtitling.
“Reviewing our current capacity on PSB1 Scotland, we should have enough capacity [for BBC Alba] to run a single out-of-vision subtitle stream.“ BBC Digital, 02 July 2015
“Yes, [just to confirm] the additional capacity could be made available.” BBC Trust, 22 July 2015
Unless you are Rupert Murdoch, most people believe that Gaelic speakers, like any other international linguistic community, deserve the opportunity to develop their own public broadcasting service. The only Gaelic channel in the world, BBC Alba - managed by BBC Scotland and MG ALBA - is worthy of support.
In 2015, the BBC Trust has confirmed a new opportunity with regard to Gaelic television. New information obtained by gaidhlig.tv from the BBC Trust in July confirms that all new programmes on BBC Alba can now be ‘burnt-in subtitle free’. No longer do English subtitles need to be imposed on fed-up viewers. English subtitles can be optional. Yet in December 2015, two years after technological advances have made it possible, we are still waiting for MG ALBA and BBC Scotland to act.
Some brief background. Before 2013, optional subtitles on BBC Alba - instead of the inflexible ‘burnt-in’ versions which have dominated since the channel began in 2009 - were ‘too difficult’ to provide on Freeview, according to channel controllers. Bandwidth limitations (and ‘other pressures’) made it ‘impossible’ to provide viewers with the option to switch subtitles on or off.
In 2015, however, the BBC Trust has confirmed to gaidhlig.tv that ‘capacity’ has improved. According to the Trust, as well as their colleagues at BBC Digital, optional subtitles - for all new Gaelic programmes - can be a reality.
The technology is cheap and is already in place. Like most key issues, in 2015, it is a matter of political will. Mar a thuirt am fear eile, why are we waiting for channel controllers to move forward?
We call on MG ALBA and BBC Scotland to cease the discriminatory - and now outdated - practice of burnt-in English language subtitling. It is time to develop a progressive, outward-looking TV channel through the medium of Gaelic. It is time to reduce the amount of English content - 70% in many cases - currently being promoted on BBC Alba. We can improve the service for Gaelic speakers by offering better choice through optional subtitling. Change for BBC Alba is feasible and cost effective.
Later this year, MG ALBA will be launching a new strategy, ‘Leirsinn 2020/21′, setting out their vision for Gaelic media until the end of the decade. Gaelic should be at the heart of that strategy. But will that be the case? Will there be specific written, detailed commitment - and action - with regard to increased use of Gaelic on BBC Alba?
We do not have to wait for the publication of ‘Leirsinn 2020/21′ to end the discriminatory policy of burnt-in subtitling. There is no excuse. Let’s act now.
The above is a summary of a longer, more detailed article shown below. The original Gaelic article re new BBC Trust information is also available.
BBC Alba, the only Scottish Gaelic channel in the world, is a vital resource for Gaelic speakers. English language TV viewers have a choice of several hundred television channels. The number is increasing. Against this background, it is disappointing that our only Gaelic channel chooses to broadcast so many programmes with overwhelmingly English language content. It is too easy to apportion the statistics - programmes with over 70% English in some cases - to societal dominance of English. We need to examine the policies of channel controllers.
MG ALBA, the organisation who run the channel along with BBC Scotland, have recently admitted they have been “less than careful” with their Gaelic policies (BBC interview, 22/06/2015).
We’ve had several pronouncements from MG ALBA saying they are addressing the situation. The MG ALBA blog post of 7th July 2015, for example, covered the issue of subtitling. Current practice is based on an outdated policy which began with the start of the channel in 2009: that of ‘burnt-in’ English-only subtitles for the majority of programmes for adults. This has left many Gaelic speakers frustrated, particularly as other channels offer far more flexible subtitling services.
We’d like to highlight a development with regard to subtitling not discussed by MG ALBA in any of their recent press activity, including their recent annual report of 2014/15. There is a new opportunity.
In a written response we received from the BBC Trust in London (02/07/2015, and confirmed once more on 06/07/2015; then finally again on 22/07/2015), the BBC have confirmed that the infrastructure now exists to allow implementation of optional subtitles for Freeview viewers of new programmes on BBC Alba. It is now technically possible - say the BBC themselves - to have subtitles hidden in the background, like any other channel, for any future programmes.
Why now? Prior to 2013, there were ‘challenges’ to providing optional subtitling on Freeview, when technology was less advanced and bandwidth efficiency savings had not been made by the BBC. This has been the main reason given by BBC Scotland and MG ALBA when they insisted to frustrated viewers that subtitles with an option to switch on/off where not possible. The subs had to be there, permanently ‘burnt-in’, or not there at all. However post 2013 - and the question must be asked why has it taken so long to find out? - things have improved.
This is what the BBC Trust has confirmed in writing in July 2015:
‘I’m sorry it has taken a while, but I have now received some information from the BBC Executive in response to your further query about Freeview bandwidth and capacity, and BBC Alba. The information comes from a Senior Reception Interference Analyst with BBC Digital.
“in 2011, BBC ALBA launched on the BBC Freeview multiplex, PSB1 Scotland. In 2013, through efficiency improvements, we were able to release some capacity on PSB1 Scotland to return some of the radio stations which were taken away to accommodate the launch of BBC Alba…” ‘
The email continues, and we highlight the following key extract:
“Reviewing our current capacity on PSB1 Scotland, we should have enough capacity [for BBC Alba] to run a single out-of-vision subtitle stream.”*
In a further email, the BBC Trust clarify their definition of out-of-vision:
“I can confirm that out-of-vision subtitles are optional, therefore they can be switched on and off according to preference.”
The new information from the BBC Trust confirms we have an opportunity for improvement on BBC Alba. At long last, learners and viewers such as Maureen Hammond who have had to resort to desperate measures - including sticking duct tape on screen to hide the obtrusive and immovable English - will have the very basic choice they deserve.
From a technical perspective, the opportunity to introduce optional subtitling for BBC Alba should not come as a surprise. Subtitling does not represent a huge drain on television bandwidth. As Neil Wren, of subtitling experts Screen Systems, says: “Subtitle bitrates are generally small and the impact of maintaining 1 or 2 languages is nothing in comparison to the other data in the stream." Mike Manning, of digital television website a516digital, supports this: "Subtitles hardly take any bandwidth. While the picture may require a couple of Mbps, subtitles will take up less than 50kpbs (approx) of bandwidth .”
In 2015, controllers no longer have an excuse to promote burnt-in subtitles on BBC Alba. At the crux of future policy for the Gaelic channel is a question of priorities: who matters? Gaelic viewers: the very people BBC Alba is supposed to serve? Or a largely monoglot English audience, already served by hundreds of English-only outlets from around the globe? It seems ridiculous that we even have to raise the question. Yet MG ALBA current policy seems to favour the English-speaking audience.
For every casual Gaelic learner or ‘new sympathiser’ that the promotion of English on Alba attracts, very few will achieve fluency in the current English-dominated environment. A recent academic study has confirmed that 29% of Scottish Gaelic learners have no interest in becoming fluent anyway (Soillse, 2015). Why compromise BBC Alba with English, when there are other resources for learners available, such as the excellent learngaelic.scot site?
For every Scottish monoglot sceptic won over, an equal number of fluent Gaelic speakers and semi-speakers will be reminded of the dominance of English. Gaelic usage - that wonderful term favoured by national development agency, Bòrd na Gàidhlig - is not encouraged by the policies of MG ALBA and BBC Scotland. Confidence is not strengthened. Adult Gaelic learner and advocate of Gaelic subtitles, Alison Kinnaird of Edinburgh, sums it up well:
”As more and more English works its way onto the channel, so the influence and role of Gaelic in daily life continue to be attenuated.”
MG ALBA seem determined to continue with fundamentally flawed policies. Witness their interpretation of the concept of ‘normalisation’:
“We have English content because we have normalisation objectives.” (MG ALBA Public Consultation report, published 2015)
‘Normalisation’ for who, exactly? Little priority is given to the most important form of ‘normalisation’ needed: a vibrant Gaelic media for Gaelic speakers - through the medium of Gaelic - encompassing the right of Gaelic speakers to a comprehensive TV channel with contemporary, varied and outward looking programmes.
As Dr Stuart Dunmore of the University of Edinburgh has asserted: if Gaelic is to have a future, the post Gaelic-medium education environment - what happens outside and after school - is vital. What is the point of encouraging a generation of new Gaelic speakers, if opportunities to listen and hear and use the language are deliberately curtailed by imposition of English? Dr Eithne O’ Connell of the University of Dublin City, identifies the key weakness in current policy for channels such as TG4 in Ireland and BBC Alba in Scotland:
“… it seems reasonable to say that there is something bogus about the claim that an Irish or Gàidhlig language programme broadcast with open English subtitles is in any meaningful way really serving the linguistic needs of its speakers.”
In 2015, MG ALBA still advocate burnt-in English subtitles for Gaelic programmes. In the light of the new information from the BBC - and also from a linguistic rights perspective - we call on MG ALBA to change their position.
Ofcom may soon require BBC ALBA to provide subtitling as an essential service for viewers who are hard-of-hearing. Why are MG ALBA already advocating (in their recent blog post of 7th July 2015) that burnt-in subtitling be used in this process? What right do they have to promote such a discriminatory policy?
As joint controllers of the channel, BBC Scotland have a key role to play. In 2014, Gaelic campaigners wrote to Ken MacQuarrie, Controller of BBC Scotland, and received an official response with a familiar mantra: BBC Scotland will continue to promote burnt-in English subtitling, as they have ‘no other option’. This is now looking increasingly outdated.
In 2015, given the opportunity for change confirmed by the BBC Trust, we hope that Ken MacQuarrie and colleagues will re-examine their options, and assist the introduction of optional subtitling. The Controller of BBC Scotland has been largely silent since 2014, yet has a powerful role to play.
in the context of ‘Tomorrow’s BBC’ and the review of the Royal Charter, those involved in the running of BBC Alba have an opportunity to show renewed urgency. They have the opportunity to end the discriminatory practice of burnt-in English subtitles. Now. Technology exists to make these optional for all future programming on BBC Alba.
Sincere thanks go to all at the BBC Trust for information and assistance and generally fantastic co-operation. Thanks also go to Mike Manning, Editor at a516digital and to Nigel Wren at Screen Systems for technical information.
* Email from Tara McBride, Correspondence Coordinator, BBC Trust: 02/07/2015
** Emails from BBC Trust: 06/07/2015 and 22/07/2015
***Gaelic learners study, Soillse, 2015 - BBC news report
http://www.bbc.co.uk/naidheachdan/33566889
Time for change - letter to MG ALBA and BBC Scotland
