IMS TO PROVIDE ACCESS SERVICES FOR FREMANTLEMEDIA ENTERPRISES’ DVD TITLES, June 2009

Independent Media Support (IMS) has today announced that it is to provide subtitling services for a raft of FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) DVD titles.

IMS will supply English subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers (SDH) for a number of FME’s television series that are being released on DVD, including Hitler’s Bodyguard and children’s programming such as Seven Little Monsters and Backyardigans. This will allow hearing-impaired adults and children to enjoy their favourite shows.

IMS was chosen because of its expertise and understanding in media access services, and has a proven track record of delivery with previous clients including Momentum Pictures, GMTV and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Pete Kalhan, Snr VP, Home Entertainment and Archives, FME, commented, “Making our products accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing community is essential and we’ve brought IMS on board to help us make that happen.”

James Gardner, Sales Director at IMS, says: “Access services for the home entertainment market are an area of constant growth. It’s great to be working with FME on these titles; it really demonstrates our expertise in this field.”

IMS has over 15 years’ experience in providing a range of access and translation services for all media. Since the 1990s, the company has enjoyed long-standing relationships with broadcasters such as Sky and Disney. New services are being developed and added all the time; most recently audio description for DCinema and multi-lingual Flash video players.

IMS DELIVERS SUBTITLES FOR MOMENTUM PICTURES' FIRST BLU-RAY DISC

Independent Media Support (IMS), the UK’s largest independent provider of access services, has produced the subtitles for Momentum Pictures’ Blu-ray release, Never Back Down.

In February 2008, Blu-ray finally became the victor in a battle lasting two years that saw the global entertainment industry divided into two camps: HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Always at the cutting edge of new technologies, IMS rose to the challenge of adapting to this new format by updating its systems and software to deliver English hard-of-hearing subtitles for the Blu-ray release of Never Back Down.

James Gardner, Operations Director at IMS, says: “We’ve enjoyed a relationship with Momentum Pictures for a while, traditionally providing English hard-of-hearing subtitles and audio description tracks for their theatrical and DVD releases. This Blu-ray title is a milestone for both our companies and served to prove IMS’s expertise in what is still a very new technology.”

Ken McMahon, Senior Vice President of Home Entertainment at Momentum Pictures, says: “Never Back Down represents our first Blu-ray release. It’s both a title and a format we’re very proud of. IMS have been a regular supporter with theatrical and DVD releases in the past and they were the perfect choice for our Blu-ray technical requirements.”

Deaf and partially sighted organisations have lobbied for a greater range of entertainment from broadcast and production industries for some time. In response to this growing demand, IMS offers a full range of subtitling and access services to all broadcasting sectors and content providers.

IMS subtitled more than 1.7 million minutes of broadcast material in 2007 for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences in the UK. Most recently, they announced the first phase in their international expansion, opening IMS Scandinavia to capitalise on the needs of local languages, part of their ongoing strategy for growth in 2008 and beyond.

IMS ANNOUNCES MEDIA AGNOSTIC SERVICE OFFERING AT IBC 2008

Independent Media Support Group Limited (IMS) is set to launch the company’s first media agnostic content development portfolio at this year’s IBC. The new service will ensure that content provided from any source can be encoded to play across any platform, from an IPod download through to a digital cinema presentation.

The new platform will offer clients a complete end-to-end solution for media access services, deliverable in any format. This will include full media encoding, media player customisation and the ability to provide multi-language open captions or selectable closed captions across a variety of formats including HD, cinema, web TV and mobile.

Following months of investment by the technical development team in its systems and software, IMS has received several enquiries for the new service and is currently working on its first commission to provide multi-language subtitles for IPOD of a new drama feature film to be distributed internationally via a tailored website.

Jeff Malina, Technology Director at IMS, says: “As technology has progressed, our clients and their customers require access to content across any platform. For IMS, this is the next step in delivering a truly integrated service which meets the requirements of a new generation of broadcasters and content providers.

We’ll be at IBC and very keen to talk to anyone with content that they want to distribute through multi-media formats” .

IMS has over 15 years experience in providing a range of access and translation services for total media. Since the 1990s, the company has also enjoyed long-standing relationships with broadcasters such as Sky Television and Disney.

IMS PROVIDES OVER 1200 HOURS OF SUBTITLING ACROSS EUROPE

Independent Media Support (IMS) has been chosen by SwissTXT, the Swiss national broadcaster’s Teletext company, to provide over 1200 hours of subtitling for the deaf & hard of hearing for the three public broadcasters SF, TSR and TSI.

The SwissTXT deal sees IMS providing subtitles in German, Italian and French for pre-recorded episodes of series such as Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. IMS has won the commission following the recent publication in Switzerland of legal recommendations for an increase in the amount of subtitling for deaf audiences to 30% in 2008, with further increases thereafter.

James Gardner, Operations Director at IMS, says: “This deal consolidates IMS’s position as one of the leading providers of subtitling services in the UK and Europe. We are continuing to broaden our growth in Europe and our work with SwissTXT enables us to bring greater accessibility to the deaf and hard of hearing in Europe’s three main languages.”

All video material is transferred digitally to IMS’s London office where individual subtitlers trained in particular styles for the relevant languages can format the content. Under a special arrangement, some of the files are also sent to channels in Italy, France and Germany.

IMS subtitled more than 1.7 million minutes of broadcast material in 2007 for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences in the UK. Most recently, they announced the first phase in their expansion with the opening of IMS Scandinavia. The new office will capitalise on growing demand and needs of local languages, part of IMS’s ongoing strategy for growth in 2008 and beyond.

IMS has over 15 years experience in providing a range of access and translation services for total media. Since the 1990s, the company has enjoyed long-standing relationships with broadcasters such as Sky and Disney. New services are being developed and added all the time; most recently Audio Description for DCinema and multi-lingual flash video players.

IMS offers Europe the last word in multiplatform subtitling at MIPTV, April 2008

UK SUBTITLE, translation and audio description provider, Independent Media Support (IMS) is expanding to offer a ready-made solution for multiplatform media across Europe. It says this will be the first all-in-one support service for audio description and subtitling services from traditional broadcast through to IPTV web and mobile content.

The new service has been introduced to meet the demands of broadcasters wishing to re-use subtitles ordered for traditional TV on accompanying online services. IMS currently provides subtitles and audio description for online content including Flash video-based websites for a range of IPTV platforms. The company also recently developed multilingual captions for a range of programmes for mobile and IPTV broadband delivery for The Disney Channel in Scandinavia.

Jeff Malina, technology director of IMS, said: “As broadcasting content moves into a multiplatform market, media re-purposing for broadband and mobile delivery will become integral to the industry. IMS is technically equipped to create all types of media delivery format, and this latest initiative is an extension to our existing well-proven production and technical workflows.”

In January, IMS opened a new office in Scandinavia, which coincided with a collaboration with Dubberman, the Nordic dubbing and sound production company. The opening of IMS Scandinavia means IMS can provide a complete package of services for the region.

News item extract courtesy of MIPTV News, 9th April 2008.