Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?

Fed up talking videogames? Why?

Do you still use the BBC Red Button (not including video like glastonbury and sports coverage)

Poll ended at Wed Feb 26, 2020 12:20 pm

Yes
8
33%
No
7
29%
Never used it
9
38%
 
Total votes: 24
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KK
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PostDo you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by KK » Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:20 pm

The BBC is officially closing their red button interactive TV service in the coming days, and Sky stopped theirs years ago (remember when you could play a Game Boy Colour-esque version of Tomb Raider via your Sky box?), so I was just wondering if anyone here still made use of it? My uncle uses it for quick access to the lottery and football results.

BBC News wrote:A petition to save the BBC red button will be handed in to the BBC and Downing Street on Monday, signed by more than 100 organisations.

The service is being closed over the next few weeks, with the first changes taking place in the coming days.

The petition has been organised by the National Federation of the Blind of the UK (NFBUK).

They say the red button is vital for the elderly who have limited sight and hearing and are not on the internet.

Red button text launched in 1999, taking over as Ceefax was phased out.

The decision spells the end of reading headlines, football scores, weather, travel news and more on TV sets, 45 years after the launch of Ceefax.

But the video elements - such as allowing you to watch extra courts at Wimbledon, or stages from Glastonbury - will continue.

A BBC spokesman said that "changes" to the service will begin happening from Thursday but the complete shutdown of the red button will take "a few weeks".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51263169

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Drumstick
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Drumstick » Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:22 pm

Use it occasionally in the Olympics.

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Moggy
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Moggy » Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:27 pm

I’ve only ever used it to watch other events. The text services were always so damn slow to load that there were far better options for looking at headlines/sports scores.

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Preezy
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Preezy » Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:33 pm

Don't think I've ever used them.

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Rax
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Rax » Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:54 pm

I remember I used to play a darts game on there years ago, there was also a bee themed puzzle game I have a vague memory of. They also had a controller exclusively for use with Sky + games, I never went that far with it though.

Outside of that I used the red button to watch alternative matches and sports but never used it for news or anything like that.

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OrangeRKN
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by OrangeRKN » Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:58 pm


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Dual
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Dual » Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:34 pm

Use it for Glastonbury coverage

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rinks
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by rinks » Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:47 pm

Frrgrrn crrrnts.

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Rax
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Rax » Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:53 pm

OrangeRKN wrote:

Thats the one! More of a bust a move kinda thing than a puzzle game really.

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rinks
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by rinks » Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:26 pm

Rrrrd brrttrrn? Frrgrrrn drrrd brrrtrrn.

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Jenuall
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Jenuall » Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:27 pm

It never had the same charm as Ceefax or Teletext so I didn't really bother with it. Plus the internet was a thing by the time of the red button so it kind of lost its purpose.

Now if they had put Bamboozle on there it would have been a different story!

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Vermilion
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Vermilion » Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:00 pm

Still use it saturday evenings to check the lotto numbers.

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imbusydoctorwho
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by imbusydoctorwho » Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:30 pm

I use it daily, always nice to check the local news and rather handy with the Lotto results .

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Ironhide
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Ironhide » Mon Jan 27, 2020 4:30 pm

OrangeRKN wrote:


Used to play that far too often.

The minesweeper one (Corporal Cluck) too.

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Garth
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Garth » Mon Jan 27, 2020 4:36 pm

Never really used it.

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Oblomov Boblomov
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Oblomov Boblomov » Mon Jan 27, 2020 5:32 pm

I use it on Sky Sports a lot since they put so many Championship games on there.

It'll need replacing during the Olympics, gets pressed roughly seven times a minute.

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Jenuall
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Jenuall » Mon Jan 27, 2020 5:51 pm

The "red button" stuff for watching other sports is just sending you to another random channel so they'll just have to communicate that better

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Moggy
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Moggy » Mon Jan 27, 2020 6:07 pm

Jenuall wrote:Now if they had put Bamboozle on there it would have been a different story!


This.

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Robbo-92
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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Robbo-92 » Mon Jan 27, 2020 7:43 pm

Not in a long time, use it for Glastonbury and the Olympics but for most of the stuff it’s just slow, to the point where it’s loads easier to just look up the information elsewhere.

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PostRe: Do you still use the 'red button' and other interactive services?
by Corazon de Leon » Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:48 pm

Moggy wrote:
Jenuall wrote:Now if they had put Bamboozle on there it would have been a different story!


This.


Used to play Bamboozle every week as a kid. Loved Ceefax. :lol:

EDIT: Just found this belter of a mug on Etsy, strongly tempted by it...

It'll never happen again.


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