BBC Breakfast fans slam broadcaster for 'killing' iconic segment
Fans of BBC Breakfast were quick to take aim at the broadcaster on Monday morning after they mentioned an iconic feature that ended in 2012
Sally Nugent talks about the 'death' of Ceefax
The BBC has come under fire from BBC Breakfast viewers as they accused the broadcaster of killing Ceefax.
The hit morning show was back on Monday, September 23 with Jon Kay and Sally Nugent at the helm. During the programme, the presenters took viewers down memory lane as they shared a report on the iconic TV page service, Ceefax.
Ceefax became the world's first teletext information provider and a forerunner to the current BBC Red Button service. Celebrating what would have been its 50th anniversary this week, first chief editor of Ceefax Ian Morton-Smith appeared on the report.
Talking openly, he mentioned that Ceefax once had 22 million users before it came to an end in October 2012. He then said: "And then, of course, came the internet and killed it stone dead." But viewers at home were in disagreement.
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Taking to X, one fan said: "LIARS! The internet DID NOT kill Ceefax / Teletext - the @BBC did. It is still in use on satellite TV throughout Europe. The BBC tried a fancy version of Ceefax with new crappy Freeview, and it was unusable crap!"
Another viewer said: "Ceefax? We call it Teletekst and it is alive and kicking in the Netherlands. The Netherlands, a country with more computers than people."
A third shared: "Happy Birthday to CEEFAX. I found myself missing CEEFAX the other day as I loved reading the news & sports including the dad jokes."
But another viewer seemed to blame the internet too for the demise of Ceefax. They wrote: "Remember Ceefax @BBCBreakfast and Teletext. Yeah killed by the Internet and news apps etc. 888 subtitles."
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In 1974, the BBC launched Ceefax. The service provided users with news, recipes, features, quizzes - and TV and radio listings.
Talking about the resource in more detail, former chief editor Ian said: "Ceefax was unique at the time, when a story broke you didn't have to wait until the next bulletin, you'd go to Ceefax and get the story when you wanted it, not when the schedulers wanted it.
"We started working on the sixth floor of TV Centre and had all these news services like Reuters and PA and our job was to pick stories and write them up for Ceefax. When we'd finished creating a page, we pushed a button and out came a yellow punched tape, so we'd grab it and run downstairs to the central apparatus room, feed the tape into a machine pushed a button and it was live."
