BBC Design & Engineering BBC Red Button launched in September 1999 as a branding for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service, and is only available via digital television receivers. The service can be accessed via Digital terrestrial television(DTT) (DVB-T), satellite television (DVB-S) and cable television(DVB-C). The "Red Button" branding is no longer used within the BBC own website. In 2004, BBC Technology Ltd, a commercial subsidiary of the BBC who provided technology and broadcast support and services was sold to Siemens IT Solutions and Services (SIS) under
Teletext during which the webpages of major news sites became inaccessible because of the high demand. Teletext is also used for carrying special packets interpreted by TVs and video recorders, containing information about subjects such as channels and programming. Although the term "teletext" tends to be used to refer to the PAL-based system, or variants, the recent availability of digital television has led to more advanced systems being provided that perform the same task, such as MHEG-5 in the UK, and Multimedia Home Platform. Teletext is a means of sending text and simple geometric shapes to a properly equipped television screen