Is the BBC Red Button Text service serving a useful purpose?

Is it time for the BBC’s Red Button Text service to be put out of its misery?

The service – with faint echoes of the beloved Ceefax – was due to close 4 years ago.

It was unexpectedly spared execution because of the pandemic.

Understandably the need to ensure accurate information was made as widely available as possible in a dire emergency took precedence.

It was argued that many who still used the service did not have internet access.

But now the emergency has passed. Life is back to normal.

There is no original journalism on the Red Button Text service. Generally it is made up of the first four paragraphs of stories from the BBC website.

Some of them make no sense on the red button service.

There was a prime example on Saturday.

The BBC website carried an enjoyable piece looking back at the famous motorway service chain Little Chef. It was featured on the BBC News homepage.

But on the red button service it looked ridiculous.

It featured as a top headline and the first four paragraphs in isolation didn’t tell a story.

Does anyone actually look at the service which is being broadcast? Is it simply produced automatically?

It is being killed off by stealth anyway. It is not supported by newer satellite boxes and does not feature on cable.

Its main platform is Freeview.

I will always believe that the BBC needs to be mindful of the digitally disadvantaged and the vulnerable in a way that commercial broadcasters are not.

It is right that the BBC was very cautious about shutting down SD satellite services and appears to be adopting a very careful approach to ending AM radio transmission.

I also cannot envisage BBC Freeview transmission ending in the foreseeable future (i.e., the next 10 to 15 years) even if Freely proves a big success and some may push for an end to DTT.

But about the only thing that can be said in defence of the legacy red button service is that it must be costing practically nothing.

If the BBC, legitimately, believes this service still has some value to part of the audience then it needs to actually take the service seriously again.

If nothing else, could someone be made operationally and editorially responsible for what actually appears on it? There’s no need to create a job and spend money. Make it the responsibility of someone on a particular shift.

Choose the stories that work for the service, place them in an appropriate order and ensure they make sense!

Otherwise the plug should be pulled as soon as possible.

Acknowledgements