BBC Red Button BBC Red Button BBC Red Button is a branding used 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. The service was launched in September 1999 as BBC Text. It was relaunched in November 2001 under the BBCi brand and operated under this name until late 2008, when it was rebranded as BBC Red Button. The "red button" name refers to the common interface on remote controls for digital televisions and set-top boxes, a red push-button which launches digital teletext services. Although initially marketed as
Teletext list of news headlines might appear on page 110; a teletext user would type "110" into the TV's remote control to view this page. The broadcaster constantly sends out pages in sequence. There will typically be a delay of a few seconds from requesting the page and it being broadcast and displayed, the time being entirely dependent in the number of pages being broadcast. More sophisticated receivers use a memory buffer to store some or all of the teletext pages as they are broadcast, allowing instant display from the buffer. This basic architecture separates from other digital information systems, such