BBC Worldwide Goes to Zoo for Subtitling

The BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, has selected the Zoo Digital to provide a cloud-based media workflow management system and subtitle and caption production services for its global operations.

The El Segundo, Calif.-based vendor will provide its ZOOsubs and ZOOcore cloud-based software, which will be used to provide a centralized, searchable system to manage and repurpose all BBC subtitling and captioning assets.

As part of the agreement, all subtitles and captions shown on the BBC’s four U.K.-based terrestrial channels will be added to the system shortly after broadcast. The system will then automatically localize the content, providing U.S. English and Australian and New Zealand English versions so that the files are immediately available to download in all formats.

BBC Worldwide intends to deploy the system more widely over time so it can ultimately creating a comprehensive, multi-language database of all localized BBC Worldwide subtitle and caption assets.

In a statement, Mark Lovatt, global head of content services, global content supply chain at BBC Worldwide, explained that after exploring “all potential providers, Zoo Digital presented the ideal solution to produce and manage our subtitle localization. Zoo’s industry-leading services and innovative technology deliver a powerful, easy-to-use solution that will support our global teams in delivering accessible, localized BBC content to audiences around the world.”

Zoo has offices in Los Angeles, London and Sheffield, England.