What happened
Since 2021 Finnish law has required that subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers on Yle, MTV3 and Nelonen be clear and easy to understand. Traficom, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, supervises their quality. Sanoma Media Finland produced most Nelonen subtitles with an AI-based system. In decisions of 29 April 2022 and 3 April 2023, Traficom found that Sanoma had breached the requirement. For the second decision it assessed a new version of the software, which did better but still did not condense speech, separate speakers or use punctuation. It set a deadline of 1 August 2023 and said that people must supplement the AI's subtitles where the software fell short. Sanoma then had people check and correct every AI-made subtitle on new programs, and it subtitled some of the most watched programs by hand. On 15 September 2023 Traficom reported that, from several program samples, the quality had become sufficient. Names, numbers and foreign words were now spelled correctly and sentences were punctuated. The September finding gives no comparison with fully manual subtitles.
Sources
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Regulatory document, by authors with no tie to the system.
Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom. The accessibility of media services is a part of equality - now the subtitles of the Nelonen TV channel also fulfil the quality requirements. News release, 15 September 2023.
Traficom states, based on several programme samples seen, that the quality of subtitles is now at a sufficient level and the difference from before is significant.
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Regulatory document, by authors with no tie to the system. Context or contrary evidence.
Liikenne- ja viestintävirasto Traficom. Päätös tekstityspalvelun laadusta Nelonen-kanavalla [Decision on the quality of the subtitling service on the Nelonen channel], Dnro TRAFICOM/16725/11.03.02/2021, 3 April 2023.
Palvelun toteuttaminen yksinomaan automaattisella puheentunnistustekniikalla aiheuttaa tällä hetkellä mm. tekniikan kehittymättömyydestä johtuen tekstityksen laatuun liittyviä ongelmia, jotka vaikeuttavat ohjelmasisällön ymmärtämistä.
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Other, by the makers.
Media Tailor. AI Subtitling Advancement for Nelonen Media, customer story (mediatailor.fi), published 18 December 2023. Accessed 1 November 2026.
The AI-based subtitling platform developed by Media Tailor and Amberscript helps Nelonen Media to improve the accessibility of its domestic content.
Details
AI system
- Workflow
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An AI-based system produced subtitles from the programs' speech. People checked and corrected every AI-made subtitle on new programs covered by the requirement. Some of the most watched programs were subtitled entirely by hand.
Follow-up
- Conditions for replication
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Subtitles must be in the program's own language, Finnish or Swedish. Where the software cannot meet the requirements, people must supplement or revise its subtitles.
Entry details
- Sector
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Broadcasting / subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers.
- Purpose
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Sanoma Media Finland uses an AI-based subtitling system, now checked and corrected by people, to produce the subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers that Finnish law requires on Nelonen.
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Cite this record
Peter H. Vartanian. (2026). Human-checked AI subtitles bring Nelonen up to Traficom's standard (AIBD-1005). Artificial Intelligence Benefits Database, edition of 1 November 2026. https://petervartanian.xyz/aibd/records/AIBD-1005.html (archived at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AADSII, version 7.0)