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TELETEXT FEATURES

MICRO PROGRAM COULD SAVE BBC TV THOUSANDS
BBC Micro User magazine, Volume 1, Number 3, May 1983


A MAJOR breakthrough that could save BBC Television thousands of pounds in equipment costs has been made by BBC TV networks engineer Tim Kennington using a BBC Micro. Kennington, 31, has written a program that enables the BBC Micro to be used as a terminal to create pages on the Ceefax service.

If current tests with the program are successful BBC TV outside broadcast teams will use micros to transmit Ceefax pages direct from live events. The first major trial is this month at the Sheffield snooker championships.

The BBC newsroom that prepares existing Ceefax pages currently uses Aston intelligent ter- minals linked to a PDP11 mini computer. Each terminal costs several thousand pounds, but with Kennington's program a BBC Micro, costing only £399, can do the same job.

"We won't replace the existing newsroom terminals," said a BBC spokesman, "but for future developments the price and the portability of the micro has tremendous advantages. With it our staff could also work from home if necessary and either send the completed pages by telephone to the Ceefax computer or bring them in to Television Centre on a floppy disc. It could also be used in BBC newsrooms and production offices wanting to contribute to Ceefax."

Teletext Timeline | An Evening with Ceefax

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