Back on the button

The bulk of text services available on the BBC Red Button service are to stay. The planned closure of the entire service, announced by former technology boss Matthew Postgate in November last year, was suspended by former DG Lord Hall at the end of January, after lobbying from many charity groups. They argued that the big bold text was a life-line for those without smartphones.

The reversal was announced by Dan Taylor Watt, Director of Product, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds"

"To enable the continuation of the most valued text and data elements of the service, we are having to find ways to reduce cost and complexity elsewhere. This will mean we will be no longer be providing Lottery results (from November 2020) or English regional sport pages and individual sports’ headlines, besides football and those on the main sport pages (from mid-2021) via the red button. National sport indexes (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) will be retained - as will all sport fixtures and results.  Due to cost implications, we will not be updating the news and sport element of the service throughout the night – however, this will be refreshed each morning and then throughout the day to ensure you are up-to-date."