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Teletext’s Content Publishing Days Are Over, Now It’s All About Commerce

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In the end, the resources required to keep publishing its much-loved content pages has proved too much. DMGT’s A+N Media is shutting down all of loss-making Teletext’s editorial operations Monday and Tuesday, after 15 years.

SEE ALSO: Up To 50 PA Editorial Jobs Under Threat Over Teletext Closure

That means news, sport, entertainment and other content is disappearing - not just on analogue TV, but also on Freeview and Teletext.co.uk. But A+N is keeping a raft of commercial operations…

—Teletext Holidays on analogue ITV (LSE: ITV), Freeview channel 101 and at TeletextHolidays.co.uk, ThisIsTravel.co.uk, InLuxury.co.uk and VillaRenters.co.uk.
—Teletext Racing on analogue C4, Freeview and satellite and, soon, web and mobile.
—Services including dating brands Rabbit TV and One2One on Freeview channels 102-107.
—TeletextCars.co.uk
—TeletextCasino.co.uk
—And SMS football alerts service
—p888 subtitles on analogue TV

Numbers on job losses are unclear. We believe several in-house Teletext staff were facing redundancy. Not sure what this means for Teletext’s content provider, Press Association, though recent reports speculated on 50 PA job losses as a result.

DMGT accelerated a planned 2012 shut-off date to January 2010, and then hastened it further as Associated Northcliffe Digital CEO Richard Titus began looking for cost-cutting opportunities over the last few months. It citing “the continued fragmentation of television audiences and the growth in the use of the internet has resulted in a significant reduction in the audience and volume of commercial activity generated by the television services”.

DMGT has also attributed Ofcom’s decision to stop supporting Teletext as a public TV info service from 2014 and the general switch-off of analogue TV by 2012. But the economic necessities seem to have had as much influence. Teletext losses in the year to October 4 grew £1 million from last year to £4 million. In November, Titus told paidContent:UK: “I’ve cut almost a million pounds in 90 days out of this business. Now we are marginally profitable.”

Dec 14, 2009 7:37 AM ET

Teletext on TV


Posted In: Companies, DMGT

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