Farewell, Pages From Ceefax 

22 October 2012 tbs.pm/1305

From this…

To this…

ceefax.jpg

The final appearance of Pages From Ceefax on BBC Two took place this morning ahead of the final analogue television transmission switch off, and somewhat appropriately tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of a news report that publicly introduced Ceefax as an experimental project, though it wasn’t until 1974 that public broadcasts actually commenced using the final teletext standard agreed between the BBC (Ceefax) and ITV (Oracle); a standard that was widely adopted throughout Europe. It then took another two years before teletext receivers were widely available to buy in shops, and they were initially only available as very large and expensive set-top boxes.

Of course the teletext standard will live on in other countries, including those who opted to continue using this format for their digital TV services. It may be exceptionally primitive by modern standards, but it’s simple, it’s well-supported, it’s curiously fun to use and it just works.

We’ll miss you.

Further reading:

BBC News – Pages From Ceefax: Into the archives

The Teletext Museum at mb21

A Transdiffusion Presentation

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1 response to this article

Martin Clayton 28 November 2012 at 1:52 am

I miss Ceefax and Teletext. Why do we have to change? You know the old saying…. If it ain’t broken don’t fix it. R.I.P Ceefax and Teletext.

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