Today, Teletext on ITV & Channel Four closed down. The decision was taken by it’s owners, the Daily Mail & General Trust, due to loss of advertising sales in the face of unrelenting competition from the Internet. Although analogue teletext and it’s charmingly clunky 1970s graphics were always going to disappear by 2012 as part of digital switchover, it was expected that Teletext would continue in it’s digital form, just as the BBC’s Ceefax is being replaced by services under the digital red button. But because Ofcom decided that Teletext would have to pay for it’s digital terrestrial bandwith and continue with its public service commitment of providing a full news service, the owners decided to pull the plug. From now on, the company will concentrate on the parts of the buisness which still make money – holiday and bookmakers adverts.
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