Advanced Television

Ceefax bows out after 38 years

October 23, 2012

BBC Ceefax, the world’s first teletext service, will cease to be from this week as the analogue television signal is switched off.

The final stage of the digital switchover will be completed at 11.30pm on October 23rd, when viewers in Northern Ireland will lose their analogue signal. It is the last part of the UK to switch off the signal, which has been in use for more than 70 years.

Households across the rest of the UK have already lost Ceefax after the analogue signal was phased out over the course of the year.

Ceefax was in use for more than three decades and provided news, features and services to viewers. For a long time Ceefax was the only on-demand real-time information network that allowed users to get news, weather and sports results. The service has been replaced by the ‘Red Button’ on digital television.

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