The Teletext/Ceefax (and related) thread

by Butterfield Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:30 pm

BREAKING NEWS: dontpanic

BBC to switch off red button text in 2020

The BBC is to switch off the news and sport text services on the TV red button early next year.

The decision spells the end of reading headlines, football scores, weather, travel news and more on TV sets, 45 years after the launch of Ceefax.

Red button text launched in 1999, taking over as Ceefax was phased out.

TVs will still be able to access other red button services, like picking a stage to watch at Glastonbury or a court to watch at Wimbledon.

"From early 2020, viewers will no longer be able to access text-based BBC News and BBC Sport content by pressing red," a BBC spokesperson said.

"It's always a difficult decision to reduce services, and we don't take decisions like this lightly, but we have taken it because we have to balance the resources needed to maintain and develop this service with the need to update our systems to give people even better internet-based services.

"Viewers can still access this information on the BBC website, BBC News and Sport mobile apps - as well as 24-hour news on the BBC News Channel."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-49715314

by cosmictanya Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:41 pm

Such a shame. I used to watch the Heathrow flight landing pages and see if my mother was safely on the ground. I loved all the exotic place names and the possibilities they held - Muscat, Dar Es Salaam, São Paulo, Algiers, Tashkent. What those returning or arriving here might have been up to there.

Actually that might have been Teletext.

I also used to listen to the football results on the radio - the announcer had a hypnotically boring voice - an endless list of strange places - Wolverhampton Wonders one, Warrington South nil. And on and on. Similar to how some people relax to the shipping forecast.

by Guest Mon Sep 16, 2019 8:05 pm

by Butterfield Mon Sep 16, 2019 8:12 pm

cosmictanya wrote:an endless list of strange places - Wolverhampton

Ahem - I'm from around there. stare

Wolverhampton Wonders

by cosmictanya Mon Sep 16, 2019 8:35 pm

WhatDoesThisButtonDo? wrote:

Yes my god, exactly that - what a blast from the past. Now I remember it being televised as well. Thank you - I might listen to that tonight on repeat.

*Now I've watched it all rather than just the first few seconds, I see it's a pi** take. But yes, that. Really very relaxing.

by cosmictanya Mon Sep 16, 2019 8:37 pm

Butterfield wrote:
cosmictanya wrote:an endless list of strange places - Wolverhampton
Ahem - I'm from around there.

Wolverhampton Wonders

Yes I do remember you being from the Birmingham area. I met a couple from Shropshire in a pub a couple of years ago (Jack and Pat) and they were charming. They were like two garden gnomes that were able to speak. I invited them over to my table for a drink and we all shared a slice of chocolate fudge cake.

by cosmictanya Tue Sep 17, 2019 12:49 am

In fact dear Butterfield, I thought you were from Wolverhampton itself, which is why I made the Wolverhampton Wonders the winning team in my example.

by Butterfield Tue Sep 17, 2019 1:57 am

Well, I was born in Wolverhampton but have always lived outside of the town/city. People round here are quite pedantic when it comes to town and city boundaries. gossip

My "shifty" look was simply the fact the football team are called Wolverhampton Wanderers rather than Wonders. But my knowledge about football doesn't stretch much further than that.