BBC Television Ceefax, the first teletext service, launched on 23 September 1974. This service allowed BBC viewers to view textual information such as the latest news on their television. CEEFAX did not make a full transition to digital television, instead being gradually replaced by the new interactive BBCi service before being fully closed down on 22 October 2012. In March 2003 the BBC announced that from the end of May 2003 (subsequently deferred to 14 July) it intended to transmit all eight of its domestic television channels (including the 15 regional variations of BBC 1) unencrypted from the Astra 2D satellite. This
S-VHS can be recorded along with the normal video signal. As a result, this teletext data is also able to be decoded and displayed on-screen as an overlay of the conventional TV picture (though not on standard VHS machines). A suitably teletext-equipped receiver/decoder (TV, PC card, etc.) displays the recorded teletext data information as if the video were being viewed as a real-time live broadcast. S-VHS video cassette recorders (VCRs) and cassette tapes are nearly identical in appearance and operation, and backward compatible with VHS. Older VHS VCRs cannot play back S-VHS recordings at all, but can record onto an S-VHS