Ceefax

Description: Ceefax (phonetic for "See Facts") is the BBC's teletext information service. The system was announced in October 1972 ... more

Ceefax ... and following test transmissions in 1973-1974 the Ceefax system went live on the 23 September 1974 with thirty pages. Developed by BBC engineers who were working on ways of providing televisual subtitles for the deaf, it was the first teletext system in the world. The then BBC Director of Engineering James Redmond was a particular enthusiast. Other broadcasters soon took up the idea. In March 1980 BBC2 then BBC1 began to transmit experimental teletext pages in-vision before programmes were transmitted, and by 1983 after when Channel 4 and S4C launched, pages from 4-Tel, ORACLE and even SBECTEL were transmitted in-vision before ITV finally transmitted ORACLE pages in-vision in 1987 before TV-am was transmitted. Since 2006, the BBC has been promoting the reuse of the Ceefax page numbers on the Freeview and digital satellite BBCi Ceefax-replacement services.

Newest Review: ... interactive stuff you get on digital. Today there is nothing you can find on Ceefax that you can't find on the internet, and of course the majority of us are more savvy with the net, but Ceefax is probably only used by the elderly these days. The best thing about Ceefax is the quiz content. Every day, a different Bamboozle quiz was the choice for me and my brother, and that was a lot of ... more

... fun. Still, when you'd done the quiz there was nothing else to do, and again the internet is much better. I am surprised that Ceefax is still running - it's an old system that is beaten by the internet, and yet it's still going to be running until...more

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Read Reviews for Ceefax

Ceefax: Is it 1980 still? (285 words)
by - written on 29/10/09 (Very useful, 17 readings)
Rating:

Ceefax, what an outdated weird service. The BBC has been running this information service since the 70s. Basically, it's a text that you can load up on your TV that contains information such as TV listings, competitions, puzzles and the like. Back in the day, it was on between gaps in programming, but these days it's just available at the touch of a button. The way it works is so difficult to get right. Basically you type in a three digit number to find the page you're after, and it loads it up in rotation from low to high numbers. Only when it hits your number (which can take a few minutes), does your page load up. The graphics are so basic and old ... Read the complete review

The latest news at the touch of a button (192 words)
by - written on 28/06/09 (Useful, 12 readings)
Rating:

35 years since it was first broadcast and Ceefax is still one of the best ways to get the latest news, sports and weather where you live. Yeah it may be show to load sometimes (especially if your TV doesn't have Fastext), but it's incredibly easy to get the information you desire. For me personally, this is usually the latest football news and league tables, which are updated almost instantly on a Saturday afternoon - the latest scores feature is incredibly handy if you can't watch Soccer Saturday. Sure, there's not as much information on Ceefax as there is on the Internet, but sometimes you don't wanna have to get up and switch your computer on - ... Read the complete review

Ceefax: All of the latest news at the touch of a remote (193 words)
by - written on 17/04/09 (Useful, 25 readings)
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Ceefax is a text based service provided by the BBC. It first began back in 1974, when just 30 pages were available for transmission. Over the years, this number has increased massively, and lots of information can now be found from the service. I first started using teletext and Ceefax back in the mid-eighties. In those days, there was no Internet or 24 hour news and sport channels, so Ceefax was by far the best way to get all of the latest information. You could access all of the big news stories, see all of the live sports scores and results, view all football league tables and even look at the weather forecasts. I used to spend hours on ... Read the complete review

GIVE me OLD-SKOOL Text ANYDAY. (223 words)
by - written on 25/09/08 (Very useful, 99 readings)
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Ceefax is an information system which can be accessed by tuning to any of the BBC's analogue channels and pressing the 'text' button on the remote. The service was first 'broadcast' in 1974 when it only featured thirty pages. Nowadays it includes a wide variety of information, and still is my primary source for finding out sport results. The new digital text service is both quicker and more polished, but I prefer the old-skool version ten-fold. I know where everything is and although you have to wait for pages to change - it does everything I need it to. I suppose it's an example of 'if it's ain't broke then don't fix it'. I will be quite ... Read the complete review

Ceefax: Before its time - CEEFAX (275 words)
by - written on 26/02/08 (Useful, 32 readings)
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Back in the dark old days before the internet (hard to remember those days, how did people actually cope!!) and various satellite / cable channels, people used their televisions to find out about news/weather/sport. Teletext was a great service, and the BBC's teletext service was, and still is called 'Ceefax'. Just by keying in three numbers with your remote control you could access numerous pages of information for free, and it was bang up to date too! Any breaking news would be covered on the 'home page' (100) and then there would be more pages listing local news and World news. You get the usual high standard of journalism that you'd expect from ... Read the complete review