Accessibility is no longer an afterthought. It's becoming part of the celebration.

For graduates, commencement marks the culmination of years of hard work. For families, it is one of life's most meaningful milestones. Unlike a lecture or campus event, commencement is a once-in-a-lifetime celebration that cannot simply be repeated, making accessibility especially important for graduates, families, and guests.

As colleges and universities continue to expand accessibility at commencement, one trend has become increasingly clear: institutions are thinking beyond compliance and focusing on creating celebrations that every guest can experience.

During the Spring 2026 commencement season, Aberdeen supported 39 colleges and universities across the United States, providing accessibility services for 279 commencement ceremonies totaling 694 hours of live event support. While every institution approached accessibility differently, several common themes emerged that point toward the future of inclusive commencement experiences.

Commencement Accessibility Is Growing

Accessible commencement is no longer limited to a handful of institutions or a single accommodation. Compared to the previous year, universities expanded both the scale of their ceremonies and the accessibility services supporting them.

Between Spring 2025 and Spring 2026:

• Institutions supported grew from 26 to 39
• Commencement ceremonies increased from 156 to 279
• Live accessibility hours increased from 395.5 to 694

Growth wasn't concentrated within one segment of higher education. Public universities, private institutions, community colleges, faith-based universities, medical schools, and research institutions all expanded accessible commencement experiences.

Perhaps even more encouraging, 13 institutions partnered with Aberdeen for commencement for the first time, reflecting growing interest across higher education.

Rather than treating accessibility as a specialized service, many institutions are beginning to view it as a standard part of the commencement experience.

Accessibility is About Families, Not Just Students

Commencement has always celebrated student achievement, but universities increasingly recognize that these ceremonies are equally about the families, friends, and communities who supported graduates along the way.

As a result, accessibility is no longer viewed through a single lens. Some guests benefit from live English captions, while others rely on multilingual subtitles or translated audio to fully experience the ceremony. For family members unable to attend in person, livestream accessibility extends that same experience beyond the venue. Others simply find captions helpful for following along in large venues or noisy environments.

This Spring, participating institutions offered accessibility in 22 languages, reflecting the linguistic diversity of the graduates, families, and communities they serve.

Top translated languages by service hours

Languages were selected based on the needs of graduates, families, and guests.

While Spanish remained the most frequently requested language, institutions also provided Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Japanese, Arabic, Portuguese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Hebrew, and many others based on the needs of their graduates and families.

Rather than offering multilingual access simply because the technology exists, universities increasingly selected languages intentionally, recognizing the communities they serve.

Technology is Removing Traditional Barriers

Not long ago, the accessibility options available for commencement were often dictated by the venue. If a facility lacked captioning infrastructure, interpretation equipment, or streaming capabilities, institutions had limited flexibility in the services they could offer.

Advances in cloud-based delivery, browser-based captions, AI-powered translation, and mobile access are changing that. Today, universities have far greater control over how accessibility is delivered, both inside the venue and to guests joining remotely.

California State University, Long Beach illustrates this shift. After previously relying on venue-provided captioning services that did not meet expectations, returning commencement ceremonies to campus allowed the university to select accessibility solutions that better aligned with its goals. At the same time, the addition of a browser-based streaming player ensured that captions, multilingual subtitles, and voice translations were available to family members watching from anywhere.

Rather than being limited by the capabilities of a venue, institutions are increasingly able to design an accessibility experience that best serves their graduates, families, and guests.

Accessibility Begins Long Before the Ceremony

One of the most noticeable trends this season had nothing to do with captioning technology. It was communication.

The institutions seeing the greatest engagement treated accessibility as part of the overall guest experience, not simply as an accommodation available upon request. Rather than waiting for attendees to discover these services on their own, they introduced them before guests arrived and reinforced their availability throughout the event.

California State University, Long Beach incorporated accessibility information into its "Know Before You Go" communications, helping guests understand what services would be available before they arrived on campus. UC Santa Cruz promoted live captions and multilingual translation through QR codes, presentation slides, printed materials, and on-site signage throughout commencement.

These institutions recognized an important principle: accessibility is only effective when guests know it exists. Clear communication before and during the ceremony helps ensure that captions, translations, and other accessibility services are used by the people they were intended to support.

To help institutions plan future events, Aberdeen has assembled an In-Person Events Promotion Toolkit with examples of pre-event communications, signage, QR code placement, presentation slides, and other best practices for increasing guest awareness and participation.

Accessibility Beyond the Venue

For many institutions, one of the biggest accessibility advancements this commencement season wasn't a captioning technology. It was how accessibility was delivered.

Traditionally, in-person guests and remote viewers often had different experiences. Accessibility inside the venue depended on the equipment available, while livestream viewers were often limited by the capabilities of the streaming platform itself. Most mainstream platforms support only basic live accessibility features, typically limiting institutions to a single translated language or a single live audio translation during the event. Additional languages are often only available after the livestream has concluded.

Aberdeen's browser-based streaming player removes those limitations. Instead of relying on the accessibility features built into a streaming platform, universities can provide a dedicated viewing experience that combines the live video with synchronized captions, multilingual subtitles, and AI-powered voice translations. This enables multiple languages to be available simultaneously during the live event while delivering a consistent experience for guests attending in person and those watching remotely.

The same experience extended to guests attending in person. Rather than requiring dedicated receivers or venue-provided hardware, attendees could simply scan a QR code and follow along on their own phones using the same captions, translations, and audio available through the livestream.

For California State University, Long Beach, this flexibility was particularly valuable. Returning commencement ceremonies to campus meant the university was no longer limited to the accessibility resources provided by an outside venue. Combined with the streaming player, accessibility became available both inside the ceremony and for family members watching remotely.

Human Expertise and AI Continue to Complement One Another

Every multilingual commencement begins with a high-quality English caption feed.

For the Spring 2026 season, 612 hours of English captions were created by professional human captioners, while 82 hours used Aberdeen's ASR Writer. Those English captions then became the foundation for AI-powered subtitles and voice translations, helping families experience ceremonies in the language they understand best.

English Caption Sources (Spring 2026)

Professional human captioners remained the primary workflow, while ASR expanded as an additional option.

Note: These figures represent the source of the English captions only. AI-powered translation was used to generate multilingual subtitles and audio translations for supported languages regardless of the English caption source.

This distinction is important. The chart above represents only the source of the English captions. Once accurate English captions are available, Aberdeen's AI translation technology can generate live subtitles and audio translations in over 100 languages, regardless of whether the English captions originated from a professional captioner or ASR.

Rather than replacing one another, human expertise and AI work together. Professional captioners continue to be the preferred choice for many commencement ceremonies because they can make editorial decisions that improve the guest experience. During graduate name reading, for example, captioners typically omit long sequences of student names and resume captioning when speakers return to remarks or announcements.

ASR, by contrast, continuously transcribes speech and may attempt to caption every name without extensive preparation and custom vocabularies. As ASR technology continues to improve, it is becoming a practical option for more events. In both cases, AI translation extends accessibility well beyond English, allowing more families to fully participate in the celebration.

Building on Shared Success

While every institution's commencement is unique, one trend became increasingly apparent throughout the Spring 2026 season: universities are learning from one another.

Many of the institutions that adopted new accessibility services this year first encountered these approaches through conversations with peer universities, recommendations from trusted colleagues, or demonstrations at higher education conferences. As successful implementations become more visible, accessibility is becoming less about trying something new and more about adopting practices that have already proven successful elsewhere.

This collaborative exchange of ideas continues to accelerate the adoption of accessible commencement experiences across higher education.

Looking Ahead

The Spring 2026 commencement season demonstrated that accessibility is becoming a more intentional part of commencement planning.

Institutions are evaluating accessibility earlier in the planning process, communicating services more proactively, selecting languages based on the needs of their communities, and extending accessible experiences beyond the venue through mobile devices and livestreams. They are also choosing the combination of human expertise and AI technologies that best supports the goals of each ceremony.

The season also reflected a broader shift in how universities view accessibility. Rather than focusing on individual accommodations, institutions are designing commencement experiences that enable more graduates, families, and guests to participate fully, whether they are attending in person or joining remotely.

As technology continues to remove barriers and institutions continue to share successful practices, accessibility is becoming an expected part of commencement planning and an increasingly important part of celebrating student achievement.

Gather25, hosted by IF:Gathering, was a groundbreaking 25-hour global broadcast connecting audiences across every continent. With over 1.25 million online viewers and participation from more than 21,000 Gather Groups worldwide, the event aimed to inspire and unite the global church community.

Aberdeen Broadcast Services has partnered with IF:Gathering since 2020, providing both live captioning for streaming events and post-produced captioning for archived content. Gather25 marked an ambitious new chapter in that partnership—the first time Aberdeen was brought on to help scale the event’s global reach through real-time translation.

As far as we know, this was a first-of-its-kind undertaking: a multilingual livestream of this magnitude, requiring impeccable coordination across dozens of languages and platforms. Aberdeen was one of several trusted vendors, working alongside the technology and broadcast partners hired for the event to make it all possible.

The Challenge: Delivering 25 Hours of Multilingual, Real-Time Access

Supporting a continuous, multilingual broadcast of this scale introduced several technical challenges:

• Maintain uninterrupted captioning across a 25-hour live stream spanning 7 global broadcast hubs.
• Generate real-time captions and translations for 84 language streams with high accuracy and minimal latency.
• Implement a dynamic captioning system that allows viewers to pause, rewind, and review up to four hours of content during the live event ("rolling DVR" functionality).
• Collaborate across multiple teams — Element Media Group (master control), Sardius (video player delivery), SyncWords (captioning/subtitle platform), and Interprefy (live interpreters) — to ensure flawless live execution.
• Deliver caption files in a continuous VTT format, dynamically updating during the broadcast to support both live viewing and post-event on-demand access.

The Solution: Continuous Live Captioning and Translation Across 84 Languages

Before the event went live, a workflow that could support uninterrupted, real-time captioning and translation across dozens of simultaneous streams needed to be built. This required deep coordination with multiple teams to align audio sources, language feeds, and delivery endpoints. Our goal was to ensure every segment of the broadcast could be accurately captioned and translated with minimal manual intervention once the event began.

A key technology partner behind this workflow was SyncWords, whose platform Aberdeen leverages to manage real-time captioning and translation delivery. SyncWords played a vital behind-the-scenes role in not only powering the infrastructure we used to deploy captions across dozens of streams but also collaborating directly with engineers at Sardius and Elemental Media to implement specialized audio-isolation coding for the event. This coordination ensured that every audio feed we received was optimized for clean, accurate transcription and translation at scale.

Pre-Event Testing

To guarantee performance, Aberdeen conducted over 50 hours of pre-event testing, stress-testing multi-language streams, and simulating 25-hour sessions to ensure system endurance. A key priority was ensuring that VTT caption files would function as continuously updated feeds, rather than static uploads. This real-time updating was essential for Sardius’ platform to support both live captions and rolling DVR features, while also allowing seamless access to captions during on-demand playback after the event.

Streaming Caption Workflow

In a typical video workflow, captions are created after recording, uploaded separately, and synced to on-demand content. For Gather25’s livestream, captions had to be generated and delivered in real time, alongside the video stream.

The system worked like this:

• Live video was broken into segments (HLS .ts files) and stored in an S3 bucket, alongside a .m3u8 manifest file managing playback.
• Simultaneously, a VTT subtitle file was created and appended in real time—each new caption line was added to the file without restarting it.
• This continuous file structure allowed Sardius’ player to provide viewers with immediate access to live captions while also enabling DVR controls—viewers could rewind up to four hours and then return to the live stream without losing their place.
• Once the event ended, these same VTT files remained attached to the recorded content for full accessibility during on-demand viewing.

This architecture required precise timing, structured file delivery, and full alignment with Sardius’ streaming infrastructure.

Workflow Optimization

Aberdeen’s team engineered a sophisticated workflow to process 20 incoming HLS feeds. Working closely with Element Media Group, which managed master control and delivered stripped audio to Sardius, Aberdeen received feeds prepped for accessibility:

• Speech-Only Audio Extraction: Each of the 20 HLS streams included up to 16 audio tracks; Aberdeen pulled content from Track 16, where music had been removed to isolate spoken word, ensuring clean inputs for accurate captioning and translation.
• Language Processing:
  • Live English captioning was performed by Aberdeen’s professional human captioners via a broadcast encoder at Master Control, ensuring exceptional accuracy of the English captions for the television broadcast.
  • Translated English to Kinyarwanda, a language not supported by any of the major ASR engines, demonstrating a custom solution beyond standard automation.
  • Created native-language captions for 14 non-English spoken feeds, including Arabic, Mandarin, French, German, Portuguese, and more.
  • Translated stripped English audio into 68 other languages, selecting the best available machine translation engine per language (prioritizing: DeepL > OpenAI > Amazon > Google > Azure).
• File Management: All caption files were delivered to Sardius using clearly labeled S3 bucket destinations (e.g., EN for English, ES for Spanish), with structured naming conventions to ensure accurate mapping during the live event and in the post-event archive.

Impact: Real-Time Engagement and Global Reach Through Accessibility

Gather25’s accessibility efforts produced measurable results:

• Over 1 million minutes of English captions and translations were viewed during the live stream, equal to nearly 17,000 hours of real-time engagement.
• Continuous, real-time VTT streaming ensured seamless live accessibility, enabled four-hour rolling DVR, and extended caption access post-event.
• Aberdeen's workflow operated without any critical interruptions across the entire 25-hour window, validating the strength of its testing protocols and system reliability.

By combining AI-driven automation, human captioning expertise, and a deep integration with broadcast systems, Aberdeen Broadcast Services delivered scalable, high-quality accessibility at a truly global level.

Conclusion: Advancing Live Event Accessibility on a Global Scale

Gather25’s mission to unite believers around the world was made stronger through its commitment to accessibility. With real-time captioning and translation across 84 language streams, Aberdeen Broadcast Services helped make this global event inclusive, impactful, and available to all.

For organizations planning large-scale, multilingual broadcasts, Aberdeen’s tested and proven solutions offer the reliability and scalability needed to reach a worldwide audience.

Let’s talk about how we can support your next event. Contact us to learn more.

At the four-day International Christian Media Convention in Grapevine, Texas, Aberdeen Broadcast Services revolutionized accessibility by delivering real-time Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) and Automated Machine Translation (AMT) solutions. Through AI-powered captions, subtitles, and voice dubs, we ensured that all sessions, workshops, and events were accessible to a diverse audience, including Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) attendees, international guests, and non-English speakers.

This case study highlights the technical execution, engagement analytics, and impact of our AI-driven accessibility services, demonstrating how these innovations enhance inclusivity while setting new standards for multilingual communication in the religious broadcasting industry.

Client Overview: NRB (National Religious Broadcasters)

NRB unites content creators, broadcasters, and media professionals in faith-based media. The annual convention serves as a key platform for industry innovation and networking, drawing thousands of attendees from across the globe.

Aberdeen Broadcast Services has been a proud NRB member since 2001, and we’ve exhibited annually in the convention’s Exhibit Hall—supporting Christian media leaders with broadcast-quality captioning, translation, and broadcast transcoding and station delivery solutions year after year.

For more detailed information about NRB's mission, history, and upcoming events, you can visit their official website at https://nrb.org/.

Background & Project Objectives

Aberdeen Broadcast Services collaborated with the NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) team to deploy automated captions and multilingual translations across all event venues.

The initiative aimed to:

• Enhance Accessibility – Ensure deaf & hard of hearing (D/HH) and multilingual attendees can fully engage with live content through captions and translated voice dubs.
• Expand Reach – Enable non-English speakers and international attendees to participate via real-time, high-accuracy ASR and AMT services.
• Seamless Integration – Deploy AI-powered solutions that integrate smoothly with the event’s media and AV infrastructure.
• Showcase Innovation – Demonstrate how AI-driven translation transforms live event accessibility.

Implementation Strategy

Aberdeen worked closely with NRB’s event tech and media teams to implement AI-powered captions and voice translations across conference rooms, exhibit halls, and keynote sessions.

Pre-Event Planning

To ensure a smooth deployment, Aberdeen conducted detailed pre-event coordination with NRB’s technical teams. These planning sessions covered AV compatibility, network readiness, and session logistics, laying the groundwork for a seamless on-site setup.

In parallel, Aberdeen’s AI models were fine-tuned specifically for NRB’s audience—incorporating religious broadcasting terminology, varied speaker accents, and unique session formats. This customization helped boost initial accuracy and reduced the need for on-the-fly corrections once the event was live.

On-Site Execution

Delivering real-time captions and multilingual voice dubs across dozens of live events requires more than great technology, it demands strategic integration, on-the-ground expertise, and proactive user engagement. At NRB 2025, Aberdeen’s team worked room by room to implement a reliable, low-latency system that ensured seamless delivery throughout the four-day event.

From technical setup to attendee onboarding, every detail was planned and executed to provide a smooth, accessible experience for all.

Here's how it came together on-site:

Technical Setup & System Integration

Aberdeen deployed a robust, multi-room workflow to ensure the reliable delivery of real-time captions and multilingual voice dubs throughout NRB 2025. Designed for low-latency audio capture and seamless cloud-based processing, the system was supported by a team of on-site technicians assigned to each room.

Technicians monitored session quality, managed live connections, and handled any real-time troubleshooting, ensuring maximum system uptime and translation accuracy across the event.

Audio feeds from each venue’s sound console were routed into video encoders and transmitted via dedicated Ethernet connections to Aberdeen’s ASR cloud servers. Simultaneously, technicians used laptops at each event to monitor session loads and dynamically add languages on the fly based on audience needs.

AV & Network Inputs from Each Room

• Sound Console (with audio out to connect to Aberdeen’s encoder)
• 5 Mbps+ Ethernet Connection (dedicated per room)

Aberdeen’s On-Site Equipment

• Network Switch
• Cat6 Patch Cables (x2): One to connect the encoder to the network and one to connect the technician’s controller laptop
• Video Encoder – Captured and streamed audio to ASR servers
• Aberdeen Laptop (Controller) – Carried by the technician for on-the-fly control and session monitoring
• Backup Audio Cable – Ensured compatibility with varying soundboard configurations

Here's a visual look at the setup:

Event Awareness & User Guidance

Complimentary Earbuds – Upon request, we provided headphones for attendees who wished to listen to the voice dubs.

Engagement Performance (Totals)

The NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) Convention welcomed more than 5,800 Christian media professionals—including 345 international attendees representing 52 countries outside the United States.

The following statistics reflect actual show usage, based on attendees who actively engaged with Aberdeen’s accessibility tools during sessions and events.

It’s important to note that every unique view was automatically recorded as a view of the English captions since English was the default language. Users then had the option to select a translated subtitle or voice dub, meaning the counts for translated languages reflect intentional user selection beyond the initial caption display.

NOTE: The following head counts reflect individual event attendance, not unique people. Many attendees participated in multiple sessions and events, so individuals may be counted more than once.

Metric	Total	% of Attendance
Head Count (Session Attendance)	6,215	—
Unique Users Engaged	663	10.67%
Voice Dub Usage	276	4.5% (41.63% of users)
Subtitle Usage (Non-English)	61	0.98% (9.2% of users)

• Over 6,000 seats were filled across four days of sessions, panels, workshops, and keynotes—showcasing the scale and momentum of NRB 2025.
• 663 attendees actively used Aberdeen’s accessibility tools, representing slightly over 1 in 10 participants who engaged with real-time captions, translated subtitles, or AI-generated voice dubs.
• Of those who engaged with the service, nearly 42% chose to listen to translated voice dubs, while just under 10% accessed content through on-screen subtitles—highlighting a clear preference for audio over text-based translation.

Day-By-Day Trends

Day	Head Count	Unique Views	Dubs	Subtitles
Monday	1,002	37	20	0
Tuesday	1,734	272	112	2
Wednesday	2,220	240	90	37
Thursday	1,259	114	54	22

Room-By-Room Performance

Room	Head Count	Unique Views	Dubs	Subtitles	% Views
Texas Ballroom AB	2,067	78	31	0	6.19%
Texas Ballroom C	2,535	296	104	8	11.68%
Longhorn Workshop Stage	1,431	232	115	7	16.21%
Grapevine Ballroom C	182	57	26	46	31.32%

Notable Event Highlights

• Tuesday marked the highest engagement day for both attendance and unique views.
• Subtitle usage rose significantly midweek, peaking on Wednesday and Thursday.
• Longhorn Workshop Stage had the most consistent adoption, with over 16% of attendees engaging daily.
• Grapevine Ballroom C hosted the two-day Latino Media Summit, which drew 182 attendees and recorded the highest subtitle usage of the week, with 31.32% engaging with the accessibility service.
• Podcasting & Video Workshops (Longhorn Workshop Stage): 1,431 combined headcounts, 232 unique views, and highest per-capita voice dub usage of the week.

Challenges & Mitigation

Challenge	Solution
Hotel Network Configuration	The hotel’s IT infrastructure blocked standard static IPs and subnet masks. Aberdeen quickly adapted by configuring all encoders to use DHCP, scanning the network to identify active IPs, and manually accessing each WebUI to reconfigure the streaming setup.
User Awareness & Onboarding	Coming into the event, most attendees didn’t know the service was available or how to access it, so Aberdeen deployed printed QR cards, tall instructional banners, and pre-session screen slides to guide users before each session.
Scaling Across Diverse Room Setups	Different rooms had varying AV capabilities and audio console types. A technical kit was standardized and included flexible backup equipment (e.g., extra audio cables, patch cables) to adapt quickly from room to room.
Terminology Accuracy	Our team built custom dictionaries for each event, including names, acronyms, and phonetic pronunciations tailored to individual sessions, greatly improving real-time accuracy.

Conclusion & Future Strategies

Aberdeen’s AI-powered ASR & AMT deployment at NRB 2025 demonstrated strong engagement and adoption, especially in high-traffic venues. While initial awareness posed a challenge, the usage numbers and feedback show clear potential for continued growth.

Future Improvements

• Enhanced Pre-Event Marketing – Increase awareness and user adoption through targeted event promotions.
• Survey Language Preferences During Registration – Gather attendee language preferences ahead of time to personalize content delivery and better anticipate demand for specific translations.
• Expanded Language Support – Introduce additional languages to serve a broader audience.

This project set a new benchmark for AI-driven accessibility in religious broadcasting and live events. Aberdeen looks forward to refining these solutions and expanding their impact at future industry gatherings.

Ready to Make Your Next Event Accessible to All?

Whether you're planning a conference, live broadcast, or global webcast, Aberdeen’s AI-powered captioning and translation solutions can help you engage a broader, more inclusive audience.

Let’s talk about how we can support your next event. Contact us to learn more.

What a season! We know—it didn’t end the way the Lions had hoped, but wow, what a ride! Each week, fans tuned in to Inside the Pride to relive the action, gain exclusive insights, and experience the energy of game day. And behind the scenes, our team at Aberdeen Broadcast Services worked tirelessly to ensure every thrilling moment was captioned and accessible to all.

The Call to Action

It would all start Wednesday at 5 AM PT. The Detroit Lions uploaded the final cut of Inside the Pride to our portal, and our team would immediately spring into action. The clock was ticking, and we had just four hours to deliver flawless captions.

The Challenge

Captioning a show like Inside the Pride isn’t just about words on a screen. It’s about capturing the emotion, the intensity, and the small moments that make the game come alive. Our team had to:

• · Ensure every player, coach, and staff member’s name is spelled correctly.
• · Describe the roar of the crowd, the crack of a tackle, and the play calls on the field.
• · Position captions strategically so they never block key graphics or important visuals.

No second chances. We had to get it right—the first time, every time.

Inside the Huddle

Our team relied on preparation and expertise to keep up with the fast pace. Football terminology? Memorized. Key phrases and commentator expressions? Locked in. From “screen pass” to “seam route” and “go route,” we knew the language of the game inside and out.

But it wasn’t just about knowing the sport, it was about teamwork. From the account manager coordinating logistics to the caption editor perfecting the captions on every frame, it was a full-team effort, just like the Lions on game day.

A Season to Remember

Though the season ended sooner than we all wanted, we couldn’t be prouder—not just of the Lions, but of the dedication, precision, and passion our team brought each week.

Every touchdown, every huddle, every sideline interview… we were there, making sure every fan, no matter how they experienced the game, could be part of the action. And we can’t wait to do it all again next season!

Delivering content to broadcast outlets is a critical final step in Aberdeen Broadcast Services' AberFast Transcoding & Station Delivery service. However, this process is more than just a digital file delivery service; it encompasses a comprehensive preparation of digital files before their final delivery.

On September 15, 2022, Matt Cook, the President of Aberdeen Broadcast Services, hosted an informative 30-minute webinar. This event provided an exclusive look into the AberFast service, offering a detailed walkthrough of the entire process, from the initial upload of content to its final broadcast. Matt Cook delved deep into various aspects of the service, including meticulous audio and video quality control, correction methods, and the intricacies of inserting graphics. He also explained the complexities involved in standards and resolution conversions, the nuances of transcoding, and the various methods of delivery.

Furthermore, the webinar introduced attendees to the station and client portals that Aberdeen offers. These portals are designed to give clients and stations real-time updates on their projects, ensuring transparency and efficiency in the process.

In 2021 alone, AberFast successfully delivered over 61,000 digital files, establishing itself as a reliable provider of broadcast-ready video files to broadcasting outlets globally. This webinar revealed the intricate processes and attention to detail that enable Aberdeen to deliver such high-quality, broadcast-ready content consistently.

In the fall of 2020, Aberdeen’s AberFast engineers were presented with a challenge: find an alternative for broadcasters who utilize satellite feeds to distribute their programming. The spectrum auction sanctioned by the FCC had cut the number of available satellite transponders in half, leaving broadcasters who use satellite feeds to be hit with premiums, overcharges, and even losing their feeds altogether.

The answer has been in front of us for a while: terrestrial IP-based file delivery.

Since 2010, our AberFast Station Delivery service has successfully delivered over half a million broadcast-ready files all over the world. We have been proving that IP-based program delivery is practical and the future of broadcast delivery which is why we heavily invested our time and money in this technology, allowing us to spin up a new service for satellite replacement: AberFast Lite.

Aberdeen recorded a video interview with the client to discuss the workflow and experience after a successful launch. Throughout the article, quotes and reference points are linked in blue and will take you to that part of the discussion in the video interview. The full video is available in the player at the end.

Client Profile: In Touch Ministries

In Touch Ministries is the outreach ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, pastor of First Baptist Church of Atlanta, Georgia. After success with a half-hour religious program called The Chapel Hour, which began broadcasting in 1972, Stanley founded In Touch Ministries and began televising the In Touch program on The Christian Broadcasting Network in 1978. His program remains one of the longest-running religious broadcasts in the US, reaching more than 800 outlets through television and radio.

Awards and honors:

• 1988: National Religious Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame
• 1989: Named Clergyman of the Year by Religious Heritage of America
• 1989: NRB named In Touch with Television Producer of the Year
• 1999: In Touch named Radio Program of the Year
• 2017: Thomas Nelson Publishing recognizes Stanley for selling more than 3.5 million copies of his books

As one of Aberdeen’s long-time partners, In Touch Ministries began using Aberdeen’s services as a supplement to their in-house captioning & distribution workflow in 2010. After 11 years, our partnership continues to grow and Aberdeen now handles all of In Touch’s captioning and distribution for the television program.

John McKinnon, Executive Director of Programming for In Touch, recalls when they first made this move to Aberdeen:

“Captioning and file delivery is not as simple as everybody thinks it is. Once you have the systems in place to do it, it can be done, but to do it right consistently is a nightmare. And we actually did captioning, captioning of tapes, and everything else in-house for a very, very long time. […] when you start actually getting out to multiple stations and doing other things, it’s a headache all the time.”

The Problem

Over the past 30 years, a significant amount of In Touch’s broadcast outlets have received the program via satellite delivery. For In Touch, the decision to use satellite for so long was heavily based on two factors: price and quality control. The ministry was always concerned about what would happen to the quality of the program when it was distributed through multiple mediums: tape, DVD, file, sat signal, etc. Satellite allowed them to “standardize” their broadcast – they knew that each station receiving the signal was receiving the same quality. However, the desire to standardize to a file-only option had been a hot topic with the ministry for years but nothing existed at the price point they needed and it was just still cheaper to deliver via satellite. Until now.

Because of the changing satellite service business and the FCC Spectrum sale cutting the number of available satellite feeds, In Touch was forced to change satellite providers five times over the last six years. Deadlines were becoming more of an issue when last-minute changes to a program forced their team to frantically resend a feed to hundreds of stations. It was at this time that McKinnon and his team turned to Aberdeen to find a solution.

The Solution

Since 2011, Aberdeen has been in the file-based, terrestrial delivery, space with their AberFast File Delivery service and has delivered over a half-million programs around the world. AberFast was introduced to provide significant financial savings for producers by eliminating tape and delivery costs associated with program delivery. It also allows producers to reach more broadcast outlets in high definition. Beyond financial savings, the AberFast service included a broadcast QC and correction of audio and video levels on all programs before delivery. Each station also received a broadcast-ready file transcoded to their preferred file specifications through a hand’s-off automated point-to-point upload to their servers along with email notifications.

So in the case of In Touch and a broadcast that reaches nearly 300 outlets weekly, how could they scale a terrestrial-based delivery to function similarly to a satellite signal that pushes the program out to all stations at once? Aberdeen now offers a more “lite” version of the full-service AberFast where most of the white-glove treatment is removed, but there is no sacrifice to the program's overall quality.

After surveying hundreds of stations, AberFast Lite settled on the five most commonly accepted file formats that will work in their automated ingest workflows. Each station will choose one format and receive the program through the same automated upload utilized for the full-service AberFast delivery. Stations will also have access to download the files from our online portal if they happen to move or delete the program. No more worries about “missing a feed” as the file will remain available well after the airdate.

The Results

In Touch Ministries has been off satellite since May of 2021 and is currently handling all of the distribution of their 30 & 60-minute weekly programs through Aberfast – station-specific versions are still running through the flagship AberFast service and where a single version is going to 50+ stations, AberFast Lite picks up the baton.

“Captioning and file delivery is not as simple as everybody thinks it is. Once you have the systems in place to do it, it can be done, but to do it right consistently is a nightmare. And we actually did captioning, captioning of tapes, and everything else in-house for a very, very long time. […] when you start actually getting out to multiple stations and doing other things, it’s a headache all the time.”

McKinnon also added: “I would say for any organization out there that may be considering doing this, it’s kind of a no-brainer from an ease-of-use standpoint, from a pricing standpoint, from everything that I can think of. We have converted all of our deliveries over to Aberdeen and AberFast, and it’s been one of the better decisions that we’ve made in a long time. So, I can’t recommend you guys enough.”

The launch of this service has proven to be such a successful alternative, that we’re thrilled to announce that the AberFast Lite service is available to all programmers who meet certain criteria and are sending a single-version program to 50+ TV stations. Want to see if your program qualifies? Contact us to have one of our engineers go through your workflows and present the appropriate solution. Learn more about the AberFast Lite setup process here.

---

The discussion between Matt Cook, President of Aberdeen Broadcast Services, and John McKinnon, Executive Director of Programming for In Touch Ministries referenced throughout this article can be viewed in its entirety below.

Aberdeen creates a successful workflow for the transfer of long-form HD programs over the internet even at connection speeds under 1 Mb/s.

Background

Transferring files over the internet is hardly a new endeavor; however, many parts of the country still have limited access to high-speed bandwidth. One such client, Power Walk Ministries in Houston, TX had such a dilemma. Needing to have a weekly HD program go through post-production, get captioned and then delivered to a regional Fox affiliate in a three-day window left little hope for shipping and even less room for HD tape costs.

Solution and Execution

Quite a few hurdles needed to be overcome to ensure the Power Walk’s long-form (28:30) program could be transferred to Aberdeen for captioning and still make it to the station on time. A large part of the burden would be placed on Aberdeen’s AberFast file delivery service.

AberFast operates on the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) which maintains consistent transfer speeds well above what FTP or HTTP offers. This automated delivery mechanism is a managed file transfer solution that has bit-for-bit verification (MD5) and e-mail notification to ensure late-night deliveries arrive successfully well past the hours where shipping is even an option. Compounding the delivery difficulties was the outdated infrastructure of the neighborhood where the client’s studio was located. Upload speeds averaged less than 1Mb/s at their location. Even an SD-DV file at this speed could take over 15 hours to transfer. Significant compression was going to be needed to transfer a file in the necessary amount of time. Aberdeen’s broadcast solutions team designed a custom compression template for the client to ensure that every export would be as compressed as possible without sacrificing the visual or audio quality of the program.

Results

The final compressed file has a size under 2GB and transfers from the client’s studio to Aberdeen’s data center in under five hours. This allows Aberdeen’s AberCap division to complete the closed captioning in time for AberFast to transcode and deliver a custom file back to the FOX station in Texas in less time than a tape could have made half the journey. AberFast’s ability to leverage the most advanced technological applications and workflows in the industry enables them to deliver high-quality content at unparalleled speeds, meeting airdates around the globe.

Aberdeen provides live captioning of a church service at Idlewild Church, allowing members of the congregation who are hard of hearing to be able to understand the message being preached.

Background

Senior Pastor Ken Whitten of Idlewild Church realized that members of his congregation were sitting in silence. Although his message was being interpreted by a sign language interpreter, this service was only helpful to church members who actually knew sign language. There were newly deaf (adult-onset) and hard-of-hearing members in his church that had no way of understanding his sermon.

Solution and Execution

Idlewild Church set up large screen projectors with the live captioning streaming from an Aberdeen live captioner so the deaf and hard-of-hearing members could follow the message live.

Results

The live captioning was a success and for the first time completed seamlessly; every member of the congregation had a clear understanding of the message being preached.

"Thanks Team for making yesterday memorable for so many. It’s just the beginning, but it would have never launched without you and your heart and hard work. You’re a blessing to labor with. I could have also talked about a lady who cried at 9:30 too. They are out there. One lady came to see me at the Pastor’s reception and told me she’s telling all her friends. Get ready. It’s meeting a need.”

Pastor Whitten

Aberdeen successfully translated, subtitled, and provided DVD authoring for the documentary God of Wonders, produced by Eternal Productions.

Background

Jim Tetlow, the Executive Producer of God of Wonders, approached Aberdeen with a complex task to translate, subtitle, and create a DVD with 22 subtitled languages and 8 audio languages.

Solution and Execution

Aberdeen has taken on basic DVD authoring projects throughout years, but this was the first of this magnitude. Our very own Austin Bringard used Apple’s DVD Studio Pro to assemble moving menus and was successful in authoring a DVD with (we have to brag again) 22 subtitled languages and 8 audio languages!

Results

Aberdeen rose to meet this challenge and proved to be a success. The final multi-language version includes these selectable languages:

Voice Dubbed: English, Arabic, Farsi, French, Hindi, Mandarin, Punjabi, Spanish.

Subtitled: English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, German, Gujarati, Hebrew, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese.