SVG Europe Audio: AI Forum – Localising Global Broadcasts

Why It Matters

Compliance with the EAA will become a legal requirement, and AI‑driven, multi‑vendor workflows give broadcasters a scalable path to deliver inclusive, high‑quality live experiences that attract broader audiences and mitigate regulatory risk.

Key Takeaways

• EU Accessibility Act mandates multilingual audio description, subtitles, sign language.
• AI-driven tools enable real-time translation and mixing for live sports.
• Multi‑vendor collaboration integrates Dolby, Syncwords, Signaps, MOI, others.
• Automated mixing reduces latency, delivering immersive, multi‑language streams.
• Scalable cloud workflow meets regulatory deadlines and audience expectations.

Summary

The AI Audio Forum hosted by SVG Europe focused on localising global broadcasts in light of the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which becomes enforceable in 2025. Panelists from Dolby, Syncwords, Signaps, MOI and other firms discussed how broadcasters must now provide audio description, subtitling and sign‑language support for every language in which content is offered.

Speakers highlighted the shift from occasional, novelty‑driven accessibility efforts to a mandatory, audience‑expected standard. They identified live sports as the toughest frontier, where latency and scale are critical. AI‑powered solutions—automatic speech‑to‑text, machine translation, real‑time sign‑language avatars, and automated audio mixing—are being deployed to meet these demands across multiple languages.

Rob Oldfield emphasized that “accessibility is moving from optional to expected,” while the technical walkthrough showed a Dolby live‑playout system feeding HDR‑Atmos streams into Syncwords’ AI translation engine, then into Signaps’ live sign‑language generator, with MOI handling low‑latency video/audio encoding on AWS. The final output, encoded in AC‑4, is distributed globally via a cloud‑based playout platform.

The collaboration demonstrates that broadcasters can achieve regulatory compliance and superior viewer experiences without a single vendor solution. By leveraging AI and cloud infrastructure, they can scale immersive, multi‑language audio services, opening new revenue streams and meeting the growing expectations of hearing‑ and visually‑impaired audiences worldwide.

Original Description

A live online webinar covering how the new European Union (EU) directive that ensures language accessibility across the continent is adding to the audio challenges for live sports productions.

Sports broadcasters have always been faced with making sure that every live production is accessible to as many viewers as possible across their territories. However, this challenge has been escalated by the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which became effective in 2025. The EAA mandates that subtitles, closed captions, and audio descriptions be made available for TV, streaming, and online media, in all 24 languages supported by the EU. The goal is to boost accessibility for all, including language learners and minorities.

Panellists discuss this directive, what it means for broadcasters, as well as the issue of audio accessibility in live sports.

Rob Oldfield, Salsa Sound, Co-founder and CEO

Giovanni Galvez, Syncwords, VP of Business Development and Strategy

Alex Le Peltier, Signapse, Chief Technology Officer

James Cowdery, Dolby Laboratories, Senior Staff Architect

Charles Bronson, Dolby Laboratories, Solutions Architect, Broadcast and Live Streaming

Robin Hérin, Ateme, Director of Standardisation