Owned and operated by BBC for nearly four decades, Ceefax will be shutting down on October 24th. Ceefax was launched in 1974 as the world’s first teletext service known to man. After daily programming ended during the 1970s and 1980s, Ceefax was a popular method of obtaining information from earlier in the day.
During the 1970s, the internet was nonexistent, similar to computers for the public. Ceefax was an alternative to the internet — being capable of obtaining sports scores, daily news, the weather, travel info, and more. It was a service that only British televisions were able to tune into.
Nowadays the internet is available in nearly every residence, thus there isn’t a need for a teletext service like Ceefax. When the UK began to switchover to full-out digital television broadcasts, the need for teletext vanished. Teletext services actually were closed up in December of 2009 on ITV and channel 4; ever since, Ceefax was left all alone under the teletext category.
If you want to catch Ceefax in action before its put to death on October 24th than had on over to BBC Two. Northern Ireland residents will receive the digital treatment in two days creating the end of Ceefax.
Source: Arstechnica
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