Teletext Ltd.

Last updated

Teletext [1]
Predecessor Oracle (1978–1992)
Founded1 January 1993 (1993-01-01)
Defunct21 June 2010 (2010-06-21)
Headquarters London, United Kingdom

Teletext Ltd was the provider of teletext and digital interactive services for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 in the United Kingdom.

Contents

Origins

Teletext Ltd started providing teletext services for ITV and Channel 4 on 1 January 1993, replacing the previous ORACLE service which had lost the franchise.

Ownership

The company is now owned by A&N Media, the consumer division of Daily Mail and General Trust's Associated Northcliffe Digital. Its main source of income is from the UK travel website Teletext Holidays. The Chairman of Teletext Ltd is Chris Letcher who acquired a stake in Teletext Holidays from parent company A&N Media.

From 1 December 2013, Teletext Holidays moved from advertising holidays from 14 holiday suppliers (including Qwerty Travel, Lowcost Travel Group and Hays Travel) to working with one supplier, Truly Travel.

Closure

Teletext Cars closed on 2 February 2007. [2] [3]

On 21 January 2009, Ofcom reported that "The increasing availability of text based services, both broadcast and online may mean that post 2014 there is no longer clear justification for continued intervention to maintain a public service teletext licence." [4] [5]

On 16 July 2009, DMGT announced that due to competition from the Internet, current economic conditions and Ofcom's findings, the service would cease broadcasting most of its services on analogue and digital television, with the exception of the commercial services broadcast on Freeview channels 101-107 such as Teletext Holidays and the firm's profitable travel websites in January 2010, [6] with the switch off date subsequently brought forward to 14 December 2009 (Sky Digital) and 15 December 2009 (analogue TV, Freesat and Freeview). [7] [8]

Teletext's news and information service were removed from: ITV, Channel 4 and Five on analogue TV; ITV and Channel 4 on Sky Digital; ITV, Channel 4 and channel 100 on Freeview; editorial on Teletext Extra on Freeview; editorial on ch 986 on Freesat. The GameCentral section continued online on the Teletext website before joining another DMGT website Metro, renamed Metro Gaming.

Despite the withdrawal of news and information content, the service continued to broadcast. On 29 January 2010, the broadcasting regulator Ofcom revoked Teletext's licence to broadcast. [9] On 27 May 2010, Ofcom imposed a financial penalty of £225,000 on Teletext Limited for ceasing to provide part of its service whilst its licence was still extant. [10] Ofcom regulations state: "Public service broadcasting licences are offered for a fixed term, requiring the holder to provide the licensed service throughout the licence period. In accepting a licence, the broadcaster takes account of the likely cost of the obligations under the licence, and the value of the benefits associated with the licence, for the duration of the licence period." [11] Teletext's licence was for the licence period 2004 to 2014.

The main Teletext service on Freeview was removed from channel 100 on the EPG on 21 June 2010. Teletext Holidays went digital in January 2011. [12] In a deal between BBC Worldwide and Inview Technology Ltd, Teletext Extra was relaunched as Radio Times Extra on 31 January 2011, with editorial content from the Radio Times instead of Teletext Ltd. [13]

Teletext formally closed down on 28 June 2012, but Teletext Holidays finally closed on 1 October 2012. [14] [1] [15] [16]

Other teletext services

In spite of its name, the "Teletext"-branded service was neither the first nor the only teletext service in the UK. The BBC (one of the original developers of teletext) launched its Ceefax teletext service in 1974, the same year that Teletext's predecessor, ORACLE, also appeared. Although ORACLE closed at the end of 1992 (when Teletext Ltd outbid it for the franchise), Ceefax continued to run on BBC analogue channels until the cessation of analogue signals in October 2012.

FourText, originally called 4-Tel, was first run in conjunction with ORACLE, as an auxiliary teletext provider for Channel 4 from 1982. 4-Tel occupied pages 410–469 within ORACLE's page space. When ORACLE lost its licence and was replaced by Teletext Ltd in 1993, 4-Tel moved to its own page space on pages 300–399 (effectively its own magazine). Channel 4 enlisted Intelfax to run the service. In 2002, 4-Tel was renamed FourText. In addition, FourText also launched on digital television. In 2003, Channel 4 ended their contract with Intelfax and contracted out the service to Teletext Ltd. [17] The new service was named Teletext on 4 and operated on pages 400–499 (which replaced pages 300-399 as Channel 4's page space). However, on 30 October 2008, Teletext on 4 on Channel 104 closed and replaced in December 2008 by 1-2-1 Dating. using Teletext on 4's old channel number.

See also

Related Research Articles

BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to close on 30 January 2020, but the switch off was suspended on 29 January 2020 following protests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Channel 4</span> British free-to-air television channel

Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded entirely by its commercial activities, including advertising. It began its transmission in 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in the United Kingdom. At the time, the only other channels were the licence-funded BBC1 and BBC2, and a single commercial broadcasting network, ITV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freeview (UK)</span> British digital terrestrial television platform

Freeview is the United Kingdom's sole digital terrestrial television platform. It is operated by Everyone TV and DTV Services Ltd, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. It was launched on 30 October 2002, taking over the licence from ITV Digital which collapsed that year. The service provides consumer access via an aerial to the seven DTT multiplexes covering the United Kingdom. As of July 2020, it has 85 TV channels, 26 digital radio channels, 10 HD channels, six text services, 11 streamed channels, and one interactive channel.

<i>Ceefax</i> Teletext information service operated by the BBC

Ceefax was the world's first teletext information service and a forerunner to the current BBC Red Button service. Ceefax was started by the BBC in 1974 and ended, after 38 years of broadcasting, at 23:32:19 BST on 23 October 2012, in line with the digital switchover completion in Northern Ireland.

Television broadcasts in the United Kingdom began in 1932, however, regular broadcasts would only begin four years later. Television began as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed.

The term telesoftware was coined by W.J.G. Overington who invented the concept in 1974; it literally means “software at a distance” and it often refers to the transmission of programs for a microprocessor or home computer via broadcast teletext, though the use of teletext was just a convenient way to implement the invention, which had been invented as a theoretical broadcasting concept previously. The concept being of producing local interactivity without the need for a return information link to a central computer. The invention arose as spin-off from research on function generators for a hybrid computer system for use in simulation of heat transfer in food preservation, and thus from outside of the broadcasting research establishments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ORACLE (teletext)</span> British teletext system

ORACLE was a commercial teletext service first broadcast on the ITV network in 1978 and later additionally on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom from 1982. The service ceased on both channels at 23:59 UTC on 31 December 1992, when it was replaced by Teletext Ltd.

Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom encompasses over 100 television, radio and interactive services broadcast via the United Kingdom's terrestrial television network and receivable with a standard television set. The majority of digital terrestrial television (DTT) services, including the five former analogue channels, are broadcast free-to-air, and a further selection of encrypted pay TV services are also available. Freeview is the only DTT service since Top Up TV closed in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teletext</span> Television information retrieval service developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s

Teletext, or broadcast teletext, is a standard for displaying text and rudimentary graphics on suitably equipped television sets. Teletext sends data in the broadcast signal, hidden in the invisible vertical blanking interval area at the top and bottom of the screen. The teletext decoder in the television buffers this information as a series of "pages", each given a number. The user can display chosen pages using their remote control. In broad terms, it can be considered as Videotex, a system for the delivery of information to a user in a computer-like format, typically displayed on a television or a dumb terminal, but that designation is usually reserved for systems that provide bi-directional communication, such as Prestel or Minitel.

Sbectel is the name of S4C's former ancillary teletext service. It was named after the Welsh language S4C programme magazine called Sbec which was originally a pull-out of the TVTimes in the HTV Wales area.

ITV Nightscreen was a scheduled programme on the ITV television network that was broadcast from 1998 to 2021. It consisted of a sequence of animated pages of information about ITV's upcoming programmes, features and special events, with easy listening music in the background. The programme was used to fill the station's overnight downtime, where a closedown would have once been used at the end of programmes. The programme was generally shown seven days a week with the typical weekday show airing from 4:05 am to 5:05 am daily. However, on ITV's digital channels, the amount of Teleshopping affects how much Nightscreen is broadcast. The programme was also broadcast on all of ITV's +1 channels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Channel Four Television Corporation</span> British media company headquartered in London

Channel Four Television Corporation is a British state-owned media company which runs 12 television channels and a streaming service. Unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is instead funded entirely by its own commercial activities. Its original and principal activity is the British national television network Channel 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital 3&4</span> British television multiplex consortium

Digital 3&4 is the operator of the PSB2 multiplex for digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom. The company is equally owned by ITV Network Limited and Channel Four Television Corporation. It was established in 1996 to manage the multiplex that ITV and Channel 4 had been each gifted half of by the Independent Television Commission.

Radio Times Extra is a means of extending advertising into the medium of digital programme guides provided by Inview Technology. It offers full television listings and synopses forward 14 days, as well as editorialised selections include 'pick of the day'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Storeton transmitting station</span> Radio and TV transmission site in England

Storeton transmitting station is a television transmitter being a member of both the Winter Hill group of transmitters and of the Moel-y-Parc group of transmitter, and an FM radio transmitter, with transmitting antennas affixed to a mast located on Storeton Ridge, Higher Bebington, Wirral, UK. The site is owned and operated by Arqiva. It was originally solely an analogue TV relay of the Winter Hill transmitter. The 45 metre-high (150 ft-high) mast is situated at an elevation of 65.5 metres (215 ft). Thus, the top of the mast has an overall height of 110.5 metres (363 ft) above sea level. Construction of the mast was completed in 1980. As of 2009, the TV transmitter serves approximately 45,000 homes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teletext Holidays</span> British travel company


Teletext Holidays is a British travel company that specializes in the sale of short and long haul beach holidays. The company was owned by Teletext Ltd from 1992 until late 2023 when Teletext Ltd and its holiday provider Truly Travel entered into liquidation and as a result, Teletext Holidays temporarily ceased trading whilst a new buyer was sought.

This is a timeline of the history of the British television network ITV.

This is a timeline of the history of teletext on television in the UK..

This is a timeline of the history of on-air broadcasts of teletext on television in the UK.

References

  1. 1 2 Allcock, Chris (28 June 2018). "The life and death of teletext, and what happened next". Den of Geek.
  2. ↑ "Teletextcars". Auto Express.
  3. ↑ "Details - Teletext Archive". www.teletextarchive.com.
  4. ↑ "Ofcom's Second Public Service Broadcasting Review" (PDF). Ofcom. 21 January 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2009.
  5. ↑ Wray, Richard (23 January 2009). "Teletext's public service remit at risk". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  6. ↑ "Teletext to shut down in 2010". Digital Spy. 16 July 2009.
  7. ↑ "About Teletext". Teletext Holidays.
  8. ↑ "Teletext to close mid-December". BBC. 15 December 2009.
  9. ↑ "Public Teletext | Ofcom". Archived from the original on 11 March 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
  10. ↑ "Ofcom imposes £225,000 fine on Teletext Limited". Ofcom. 27 May 2010. Archived from the original on 31 May 2010.
  11. ↑ "Decision by the Broadcasting Sanctions Committee re: Teletext Limited for the revocation of the public teletext service licence on 29 January 2010" (PDF). Ofcom . Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  12. ↑ "Teletext gears up for analogue switch-off". Travel Weekly. 16 November 2010. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019.
  13. ↑ Laughlin, Andrew (31 January 2011). "Teletext Extra becomes Radio Times Extra". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020.
  14. ↑ "Teletext Holidays Nears Journey's End On Freeview". www.digitalspy.com via internet archive. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  15. ↑ "Teletext angers agents by quitting TV channel | News | Travel Trade Gazette".
  16. ↑ "Is teletext still available?". Finddiffer.com. 2 June 2022.
  17. ↑ "Teletext and C4 sign text services deal". Daily Mail and General Trust. 1 July 2003. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
ITV national franchise
Preceded by Teletext service
1 January 1993 – 29 January 2010		Licence revoked
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