BBC to switch off red button text services
September 17, 2019
The BBC has confirmed it will 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 with the advent of the Internet.
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.”
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