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AND news - December 2009

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Teletext gets ready for next wave of innovation and growth

 

Teletext gets ready for next wave of innovation and growth

Monday 14 December 2009

After 15 years of high quality and technology leading text services on TV, the Teletext editorial service will be switched off on 14th/15th December 2009.However, Teletext will continue to operate a number of hugely popular services including Teletext Holidays; the Teletext  Racing and Bookmakers' service; its SMS football alert service and its chat and dating TV channels on Freeview.

Teletext is owned and operated by AND, part of A& N Media - the consumer media division of DMGT plc.

The facts surrounding the switch off are:

  • Analogue TV is gradually being switched off across the country and TV will be fully digital by 2012.
  • Ofcom has announced that that it will not support public Teletext services in the digital era.
  • While Teletext was hugely innovative in its time, the world has now moved on and much of the information services it provided are readily available elsewhere.

 

What Teletext services will continue?

  • Teletext Holidays
    • on Freeview channel 101
    • on analogue behind ITV
    • online at teletextholidays.co.uk, thisistravel.co.uk, inluxury.co.uk and villarenters.co.uk
    • Current viewers per week: 1.94m adults
  • Teletext Racing and Bookmakers' service on Channel 4 analogue and Freeview  and Satellite. This service will also be available on theweb and on mobile.
  • Current viewers per week: 1.1m adults
  • The Subtitles Service on p888 analogue are separate and will continue

 

What is being switched off and when?  

  • Teletext editorial services on  ITV and C4 and Teletext Holidays on Satellite will end on 14th December 2009
  • Teletext editorial services on ITV, C4 and C5 on analogue TV will end on 15th December 2009
  • Teletext editorial services on ITV and C4 on Freeview will end on 15th December 2009
  • Teletext editorial services on Channel 986 on Freesat will end on 15th December 2009

Richard Titus, CEO of AND, said:

“Teletext’s editorial service was hugely popular and helped place the UK as the world leader in Interactive Television. However, in striving to remain innovative and to offer services that continue to be in demand in the digital world, the closure of the analogue service and editorial portions of Teletext are necessary for the complete realignment of this business. Teletext is moving with the times, accelerating its rate of growth and preparing, with greater agility for the execution of its multiplatform content and services strategy.”

Neil Johnson, Managing Director, Teletext, said:

“Teletext is not closing, it is changing to continue to deliver the types of products and services our customers want most. We see a great opportunity to provide greater value to our loyal user base and to extend our reach online and via new channels.  Teletext has great expertise in innovating quickly to meet the needs of millions of people. We are investing in online marketing and social media and anticipate continued growth going forwards.”

Victoria Sanders, Managing Director, Teletext Holidays said,

 
“With Teletext’s heritage, we understand the delivery of every travel element and are more excited than ever as to what we can offer our customers in future months through innovation and forward thinking.  Teletext Holidays is seeing year-on-year growth and we are currently expanding our product range and diversifying.  Teletext is uniquely positioned for this opportunity – we are unique in the UK travel market through the diversity of our marketing channels, our experience and our knowledge within the industry."

 

For further information or images please contact:

IF Communications

Isabel Fox, Cordelia Meacher, Renate Nyborg

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7193 4456

Email: izzy@if-communications.com

 


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