RIP Teletext: Jan, 1993 to Jan, 2010

Author Andy Vandervell
Published 16th Jul 2009
RIP Teletext: Jan, 1993 to Jan, 2010
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Come January 2010 the text news service Teletext, which is currently accessible through ITV, Channel 4 and Five, will become unavailable.

Mike Stewart, the group managing director, blamed the "fragmentation of television audiences and the boom in online use for news" as having eroded Teletext's readers and made it increasingly unviable - adding that the service had made a loss for the last three years.


Freeview channel Teletext Holiday's will continue to air, while the company's various online assets will also continue. Teletext's operator, Daily Mail and General Trust, aimed some blame at Ofcom, which had announced that the operator could lose its public service license after 2014, but given the service had been loss making for three years already it seems a half-hearted explanation. Ultimately, it appears to be another struggling business that's fallen victim of the recession.

So, Teletext, will it be missed? Many will have fond memories of the service, particularly Mr. Biffo's (aka Paul Rose) Digitizer gaming column, which ran between 1993 and 2003. However, in this digital age, its relevance has been increasingly dubious.

Will you miss Teletext? Let us know in the comments.

Link:
The Guardian

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Latest 4 of 23 Comments

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comment Keith said on 17th July 2009

@Bluepork: I got my name on the screen for my 6th birthday with teletext

WOW, was that you. :)

Actually I'll miss the Mode 7 graphics :) People ... more

comment Paul B said on 17th July 2009

I love Digitizer on Teletext, good reviews n comments, as well as footy stuff. BUT I mostly read it on the internet because it is loads qicker than on Sky
R.I.P.

comment Tony Walker said on 18th July 2009

There's an excellent Teletext widget for Dashboard on the Mac.

comment Tony Walker said on 18th July 2009

Mode 7 was even carried over to the Archimedes.

Now that was a computer! The GUI was about 20 years ahead of Windows and OS X. Computer Concepts Impression was a bri... more

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