• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Clean Feed

Clean Feed

  • PresWatch
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Bloopers
  • Features
  • YouTube Picks
  • Resources
  • Other Pages
    • About This Site
    • Contact Us
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Our Other Websites
    • Rewind
    • Showreel
    • The TV Room
  • TV Pres Partnership
    • TV Pres

The end is nigh for BBC Red Button text service

Posted on 17th September 2019 by Andrew Nairn Last updated on 21st March 2021 Filed under Opinion

The end of the BBC’s Red Button text service early next year will mark the end of an era. It is the end of the service designed as the direct successor to Ceefax.

It is teletext in all but name and its closure means the effective end of teletext in the UK. But will its demise be a real blow to many?

There are no publicly available figures on the number of people who regularly use the service. Nor are there figures which say how many of its users also use the BBC website or BBC News App.

However one risk is that its loss could be a blow to some parts of the community – those who don’t have access to the internet or consciously don’t want to have access to it.

This may seem Luddite but some people, particularly some older people, may be sceptical of change or new technology – which is not to be ageist as others love the opportunities of the internet. There are also the socially excluded or disadvantaged to consider. Access to the Red Button comes as standard with Freeview.

However the question for the BBC is whether maintaining the service is really worth the cost and effort.

In recent years, there has been little editorial effort – the pages generally consist of the first 4 paragraphs of pieces from the BBC website. Sometimes the stories don’t even make sense in that form.

So will the end of the service bring about an outcry like the end of BBC Three and the proposal to shut BBC Radio 6 Music? Or will the text service go unmourned?

Certainly previous outcries have sometimes been a surprise to the corporation – not least a revolt against a plan in the 90s to axe Radio 4 long wave.

But even if the end arouses little controversy it will be a shame to let it go unnoticed.

Related

Acknowledgements

Related

FEATURE IMAGE:

PICTURED: BBC Red Button text service index page. COPYRIGHT: BBC.

Related

Related

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Sidebar

Tags: BBC, Red Button Text Services, Teletext

Spotted a Pres Change/Blooper?

If you've spotted a noteworthy presentation-related change on any channel or witnessed an on-air blooper, let us know about it.

Use our Contact Form or let us know via our Twitter account.

Contribute an Opinion Piece

Do you have an opinion on a channel branding package, advertisement, promotion, programme title sequence or set design?

Then why not produce an article for Clean Feed?

Articles should be a minimum of 500 words.

Use our Contact Form or send us a direct message on Twitter.

Follow Clean Feed on Twitter

My Tweets


© 2021 Clean Feed · This site is not affiliated with any broadcaster, production company or design/marketing/talent agency.

Back to top