Editing Ceefax (section)

==''Pages from Ceefax''==<!-- *** Please note discussion on talk page before expanding section *** -->

''Pages from Ceefax'' was a selection of content from the Ceefax service and normally only shown in the absence of any other programming. It consisted of selected Ceefax pages transmitted as an ordinary TV picture, viewable on any receiver. Audio accompaniment consisted of [[Production music|stock music]] or sometimes a discontinuous tone. The limited set of rolling pages shown on ''Pages from Ceefax'' had been accessible at any time of day on teletext-equipped televisions on page 198 (BBC1) and 298 (BBC2), moving to page 196 in November 1992 and to page 152 in November 1996.

===Content===
Initially, the in-vision broadcasts featured a variety of different topics – news, sport, weather and BBC TV listings were always included. Other topics would be included from time to time, such as financial news, travel news, a recipe and information about the BBC. In late 1989 the Ceefax service was relaunched as a news-focused service and the in-vision sequence became a news-only service plus a weather forecast. A headline page for business, sport and travel reappeared in 1992.

===In-vision history===
In-vision Ceefax was first shown in March 1980, originally in 30-minute slots and by mid-1983 it was a common filler during daytime downtime. Transmissions were originally billed on-air as ''Ceefax in Vision'' but daytime transmissions were not listed in the ''[[Radio Times]]'' until 7 January 1984, under the title of ''Pages from Ceefax''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1984-01-07|title=BBC Two England – 7 January 1984 – BBC Genome|website=genome.ch.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

On 28 February 1983, BBC1 started to air a selection of Ceefax pages every weekday morning at 6.00am called ''Ceefax AM'' which would lead into the start of ''[[Breakfast Time (British TV programme)|Breakfast Time]]'' at 6.30am.<ref>{{cite web |website=The TV Room |url=https://rewind.thetvroom.com/38841/features/the-history-of-pages-from-ceefax-part-2-3/ |title=The History of Pages from Ceefax (part 2/3) |date=16 March 2020 }}</ref> It is first mentioned in the ''[[Radio Times]]'' on 21 March.<ref>[http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1983-03-21 BBC Genome Project – BBC1 listings 21 March 1983]</ref>

From May 1983, BBC1 began to transmit Ceefax pages during their daytime downtime periods. This continued until Friday 24 October 1986, three days before BBC1 launched a full daytime schedule, resulting in the only Ceefax transmission on BBC1 being the weekday 6.00am ''Ceefax AM'' broadcast.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/genome/entries/5434a4f5-04bc-4df1-8b4b-b6603e37cbb6 BBC Genome Blog 27 October 2016]</ref>

From the late 1980s onwards, ''Pages from Ceefax'' was increasingly marginalised by the BBC's move towards a near-continuous service, although BBC2 only gradually expanded its broadcasting hours when schools programming was not being shown. By the start of the 1990s, Ceefax broadcasts were shown once a day, and for periods of around 15–30 minutes. They were shown before the first programme of the day. When the BBC launched [[BBC Learning Zone|The Learning Zone]] in 1995, Ceefax was shown during overnight downtime on BBC Two for the first time, although latterly [[BBC News (British TV channel)|BBC News]] filled many of the late-night/early morning gaps in the schedules.

The last nationwide ''Pages from Ceefax'' broadcast on BBC1 was on 9 November 1997. However, occasional Ceefax broadcasts continued to be shown on [[BBC One Scotland]], [[BBC One Wales]] and [[BBC One Northern Ireland]] as a filler between the end of an opt-out and rejoining the national network. On BBC Two, ''Pages from Ceefax'' continued to be broadcast until less than two days before the Ceefax service was closed down, the final transmission being in the early hours of Monday 22 October 2012 which featured special continuity announcements and a specially created end caption featuring various Ceefax graphics from over the years.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/EEdF2K5BITI Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20151226134712/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEdF2K5BITI Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEdF2K5BITI|title=The final Pages From Ceefax in full, 22 October 2012, BBC Two|author=((JX866 Mashups))|date=28 November 2012|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The music chosen for the final minutes was [[Ruby (Ruby album)|"BART" by Ruby]], which had been frequently used for ''Pages from Ceefax'' and for other continuity. Since then, overnight downtime has been filled with a rolling loop of previews of forthcoming BBC Two programmes.

===Similar services on other channels===
[[Channel 4]] showed pages from [[ORACLE (teletext)|Oracle]] from 1983 until 1989 and ''[[4-Tel On View]]'' from 1983 until 1997, and in the late 1980s and early 1990s, some ITV companies broadcast ''[[Jobfinder]]'', which consisted of Teletext pages showing job vacancies and related information. ''[[ITV Nightscreen]]'' also used Teletext pages in its first few years on air. In its early days, [[Sky One]] showed in-vision pages from the [[Sky Text]] service during its overnight downtime.