Takashi Nishii
Director in charge of Content Design Bureau
Content Design Division, Kansai Television Co. Ltd.

The new coronavirus infection has had a great impact and has changed both our lives and work habits. As a strategy to prevent the spread of infection, companies have decided to engage in telecommuting (home working) viewing this as a way of reducing public density and the amount of time people come in contact with each other. We broadcasters have a major mission to maintain broadcasting in order to convey information to the public. Therefore, various departments have decided to work from home while looking for new forms of program production after taking measures against infectious diseases. In the production of subtitles, it was the norm to go to work at the Kansai Television Headquarters or outsourcing companies, but we considered how to maintain and continue the work of adding subtitles to programs while reducing the number of staff members who actually commute to work.

Until now, it was necessary to introduce a video conference system at a special cost, but with the Corona disaster, the environment is such that one can easily share screens, voice, and materials if you have commercial software, a camera, a microphone, and an internet connection. Since it was set up rapidly, we were able to build a system without developing a new system and started operation in May 2020.

(1) Subtitle production

At our company, subtitle production is shared by three to five people in charge.

① Connect from your home notebook computer to the company via VPN and download the video of the program you are working on from the company server.

② Two telecommuters create subtitles while watching the video of the program on company- issued laptops.

③ The telecommuters upload the created subtitle data to the company server via VPN.

At this time, they use the chat function of Microsoft Teams (hereinafter referred to as Teams) for mutual progress checks and questions.

* VPN (Virtual Private Network) = A virtual private line created using a general Internet line that can ensure safety and protect information.

(2) Post-subtitling confirmation

① The person in charge at the head office goes over the subtitles created by telecommuters on the company’s computer.

② At this time, the video (with subtitles) being played on the company’s computer is shared on the screen with Teams, and the telecommuters who created the subtitles confirms them  together.

③ Conversations between the person in charge at the head office and the telecommuters are conducted using Teams video chat function, and subtitles are modified as necessary.

Before the Corona disaster, three to five people per program would sometimes work in the same room. We now have a telecommuting subtitling system in place so as to reduce density in the workplace, and we continue to do so to this day.

The Corona disaster was the catalyst for the establishment of a telecommuting system, and as a result, it is now possible to perform subtitling without having to go to work. Thus, we can think more flexibly about staff work locations, which may help in securing staff. On the other hand, the Internet line that connects the office and home is less stable than the leased line. In addition, there is also the problem that the registration of the created subtitle data in the broadcasting equipment and the final confirmation on the broadcasting equipment require work at the Kansai Television Headquarters, which cannot be done by working from home. In the future, I think that a new mechanism that is effective for subtitling will be developed, so I would like to actively consider it.