opaque blocks of colour on top of the television channel, with the black background now transparent not 'translucent blocks of colour with a translucent black background') above the television picture. BBC Text also enabled channel association, the ability for the user to retain their selected television channel visible in one section of the screen whilst viewing the text service, in contrast to Ceefax, which could only be viewed as a full-screen display, or as a semitransparent overlay (i.e. A digital text service had been available since the launch of digital terrestrial television in November 1998, but the BBC Text service was not publicly launched until November 1999, due to a lack of availability of compatible set-top boxes.īBC Text was considerably more advanced than Ceefax, in that it offered a richer visual interface, with the possibility of photographic images and designed graphics (as opposed to Ceefax graphics which were composed of simple blocks of colour). In the first phase, the service was created using content migrated from the existing analogue teletext service, Ceefax.

BBC Text (1999–2001)īBC Text originally launched on digital terrestrial services on 23 September 1999, and was later introduced on satellite and cable platforms. In September 2009, the BBC celebrated 10 years of the digital interactive TV service. This was due in part to the institutional landscape of television in the UK. The 'red button' name refers to the common interface on remote controls for digital televisions and set-top boxes, a red push-button that launches digital teletext services.Īlthough initially marketed as a spectacular new form of television, by 2008 this had given way to positioning iTV as ‘everyday’. It was relaunched in November 2001 under the BBCi brand and operated under this name until late 2008, when it was rebranded as BBC Red Button. The service was launched on 23 September 1999 as BBC Text.

Bbc red button freesat