ITV Signs Teletext For Digital Text Content
Teletext has signed a ten-year deal with commercial TV giant ITV to operate commercial and editorial text services across the broadcaster’s family of channels in digital homes.
The new service will be branded ‘Teletext on ITV’ and will be accessible to viewers on all digital platforms. The service will launch on digital satellite and Freeview in the summer, offering viewers a range of news, sport, weather, travel, lottery results and entertainment features, including content relating to ITV programmes.
Support for cable platforms will follow at a later, as yet unconfirmed date. The deal ensures the continued existence of Teletext via ITV, a service which has been available to ITV1 viewers in analogue homes for more than 10 years, but will bring a range of benefits to viewers and advertisers, with full colour pages, easy-to-read fonts, faster, easier navigation and the ability to view programmes in quarter screen format whilst scrolling through text content.
Mike Stewart, MD of Teletext Ltd said: “We know that viewers in multi-channel homes expect to access our services via the text button on their remote control. The launch of the familiar Teletext service on ITV will respond to this expectation and offer viewers a more appealing enhanced digital format.”
The new service will complement Teletext’s existing services on Sky and Freeview, rather than replacing the dedicated channels which currently reside on the platforms. The new content will also operate in addition to ITV’s recently launched ITVi 24/7, an interactive platform offering TV show tie-ins and sponsored content forming ITV’s fully fledged, always-on interactive service (see ITV Boosts Interactive To Run Services Non-Stop).
ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com Teletext: 0870 731 3000 www.teletext.co.uk
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