BBC Red Button service upgraded for internet TVs

By Andy Clough
published

Virgin TiVo subscribers will be the first to get the BBC's enhanced Red Button service

The BBC's Red Button service is being upgraded to make it compatible with internet-connected TVs.

The Connected Red Button service will enable viewers with internet TVs the opportunity to watch some channels even if they are off air, and to catch up with previous episodes of some shows.

It will offer additional streams and clips from sporting events, plus news and weather headlines. Viewers will initially have access to CBBC, CBeebies, BBC Three and Four.

The service will first be offered via Virgin Media's TiVo box, with more internet-capable TVs being added in the coming months.

Daniel Danker, general manager of BBC Programmes and On-Demand, says: "The BBC is seamlessly bringing the internet together with live TV, while making the technology completely invisible. This is Red Button reinvented, and the beginning of the exciting future of television."

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Andy Clough
Andy Clough

Andy is Global Brand Director of What Hi-Fi? and has been a technology journalist for 30 years. During that time he has covered everything from VHS and Betamax, MiniDisc and DCC to CDi, Laserdisc and 3D TV, and any number of other formats that have come and gone. He loves nothing better than a good old format war. Andy edited several hi-fi and home cinema magazines before relaunching whathifi.com in 2008 and helping turn it into the global success it is today. When not listening to music or watching TV, he spends far too much of his time reading about cars he can't afford to buy.