[Nobby]

From the Ofcom report alone, it sounds like Red Bee have a very manual process which they will be giving their staff more training on rather than changing the process in any way. Almost guaranteeing this will happen again in some form.

They admit they had access to the time the subtitles were going to be broadcast and the word (the eff one) is not some obscure slang word. Their systems should have flagged it and if it didn't, they should change their system.

I'd be fascinated to see this episode of Casualty with the subtitles complained about. Something that sounded like "effing" must have been said, twice. I wonder what it was.

[James2001]

Just read the decision ….. the word is there …..
www.ofcom.org.uk 

Ouch, there's no way that word would ever have been in the episode, even on original broadcast, so I wonder what led the subtitler to put it in there, more than once?

[James2001]

I'd be fascinated to see this episode of Casualty with the subtitles complained about. Something that sounded like "effing" must have been said, twice. I wonder what it was.

A quick look at an online TV guide (tv24.co.uk  ) suggests it was this episode, the final one of the first series:

uktvplay.co.uk 

I presume the offending subtitles have been removed, but if anyone wants to watch the episode to work out what could possibly have been mistaken for the word in question...

A look at Genome does say that unlike the rest of the series, that particular episode did originally go out post-watershed, at 21:25 , but I still don't imagine it had that word in it. Especially as it immediately followed the Paul Daniels Christmas show which would have had a large younger audience.

genome.ch.bbc.co.uk 

The DVD release that came out in 2006 has no strong language warning, only a mild one, and the episode in question doesn't even have the mild language warnings that several other episodes have (and it likely wouldn't have got a 12 rating if there had been 2 f bombs in the space of 50 minutes):
www.bbfc.co.uk 

Funnily enough there's been plenty of other, not quite as strong words left in Drama's showings of both Casualty and The Bill that in previous years would have been excised from daytime showings, I presume there's less squeamishness broadcasting some words during daytime these days.

[Steve in Pudsey]

The OFCOM ruling refers to the absence of an on-air apology, I wonder how practical it would be to create an apology subtitle on the fly?

[Brekkie]

Presumably an apology from continuity with a text graphic might be the expectation rather than within the subtitles.

[Nobby]

A quick look at an online TV guide (tv24.co.uk  ) suggests it was this episode, the final one of the first series:

uktvplay.co.uk 

I just started watching. I heard two effings in the first 5 minutes.

At 1:46, a man is chasing a Santa Claus or Father Christmas. The Christmas character is singing. After he sings "Jingle Bells" the chaser says "OK, come on". Both lines are subtitled but between these two lines, the chaser, frustrated at his inability to catch Saint Nick, very clearly says "effing...". This line is not subtitled on UKTV Play. No doubt about it though, it's definitely "effing". I would have added the word here too if I was working for Red Bee.

Admitally, there is a very small possibility that I might just be hearing what I want to hear.

[Technologist]

Back a few …this is how subtitles are handled

At the moment the interchange format is EBU 3264
This dates from 1989 tech.ebu.ch 

It is worth noting that this was all subtitles not specifically teletext ….
So the code table used is not teletext (prat trap 1) and there is not always a link
between the authoring language and national character set (prat trap 2)
and the setting of diacritical marks by packet x/26 can be inconstant (prat trap 3)

The Teletext is now carried in HD using OP47 www.freetv.com.au 

OP 47 - Storage and Distribution of Teletext Subtitle and VBI Data - Issue 6 - M…
Issue 6 - May 2018
  Source: www.freetv.com.au

And then at coding and mux is turned into DVB ST for Freeview and Freesat
and DVB Teletext for sky (and often European broadcasters.)

But the future is timed text and there is a convergence on this
With EBU TT tech.ebu.ch 

Timed Text | EBU Technology & Innovation
The EBU helps broadcasters produce and distribute high-quality subtitles for mul…
  Source: tech.ebu.ch

SMPTE TT which is “safe harbour for ip delivered tv channels”
Under FCC regulation …it’s the law ! ST 2052
ieeexplore.ieee.org 

Error

  Source: ieeexplore.ieee.org

www.dwt.com 

FCC Adopts Closed Captioning Rules for Online Video Programming | Insights | Dav…
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted a Report and Order (R&am…
  Source: www.dwt.com

This (a bit dated ) from w3C describes where things were
www.w3.org 

TTML and derivated captions formats
TTML and derivative Captions Formats. In recent years with the convergence of tr…
  Source: www.w3.org

But IMSC2 is the way forward ..

Note that these techniques work for both broadcast and internet based
Closed Captioning .. as well as theatric projection ……
And being Unicode based handles ideographic character sets …… and those with diacriticals

But there is so much EBU 3264 and DVB ST investment in Europe
And a range of proprietary authoring systems in USA … and EiA608
That its rollout is taking some time ….

[James2001]

I just started watching. I heard two effings in the first 5 minutes.

At 1:46, a man is chasing a Santa Claus or Father Christmas. The Christmas character is singing. After he sings "Jingle Bells" the chaser says "OK, come on". Both lines are subtitled but between these two lines, the chaser, frustrated at his inability to catch Saint Nick, very clearly says "effing...". This line is not subtitled on UKTV Play. No doubt about it though, it's definitely "effing". I would have added the word here too if I was working for Red Bee.

Admitally, there is a very small possibility that I might just be hearing what I want to hear.

It's such a cacophony of noise, it's hard to make out what's being said. And I still think it's very unlikely to be that word considering the nature of the show.

And it's worth pointing out the character of the "chaser" is Polish, and it's possible that he's saying something in that language that sounds a bit like it.

And if you were working for Red Bee... would you really have added the word when told you were subtitling something going out at 10:30 in the morning, even if that is what you thought you heard?

[Nobby]

And if you were working for Red Bee... would you really have added the word when told you were subtitling something going out at 10:30 in the morning, even if that is what you thought you heard?

Yes because in my made up scenario I am a maverick who doesn't give a monkeys about my job. I only care about serving the deaf and hard of hearing community and then going home to my mansion of an evening.

Also, I'm possibly foreign myself and normally work on translations but UKTV want these Casualty episodes subtitled ASAP and I've stepped up, despite not being fully versed in Ofcom regulations and being from a country and/or culture where the 'eff word' isn't particularly offensive so wouldn't stand out as being unusual even in a daytime TV show. My name is Chad Le Magnétoscope.

[James2001]

I have no idea what the hell you're talking about.