Sbectel () is the name of

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

's former ancillary

teletext Teletext, or broadcast teletext, is a standard for displaying text and rudimentary graphics on suitably equipped television sets. Teletext sends data in the broadcast signal, hidden in the invisible vertical blanking interval area at the to ...

service. It was named after the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

S4C programme magazine called ''Sbec'' (Welsh for 'peek') which was originally a pull-out of the ''

TVTimes ''TV Times'' is a British television listings magazine. From 1955 until 1991, it was the only source of seven-day listings for ITV and, from 1982, Channel 4 (as well as S4C in Wales in an enclosed local supplement titled '' Sbec''). The magaz ...

'' in the HTV Wales area.

Content

Sbectel provided listings and information about S4C's programmes, such as previews of programmes and further information related to the programmes. Pages were provided in both Welsh and English. The programme was separate from the auxiliary and separately-licensed teletext service also available on the channel. Sbectel also provided

subtitles Subtitles are texts representing the contents of the audio in a film, television show, opera or other audiovisual media. Subtitles might provide a transcription or translation of spoken dialogue. Although naming conventions can vary, caption ...

for S4C's programmes on page 888 in English and page 889 in Welsh.

History

Sbectel was first run in conjunction with

ORACLE An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

, the auxiliary teletext provider on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in the 1980s. Sbectel occupied pages 410-499 within the page space. When ORACLE lost its licence and was replaced by

Teletext Ltd. Teletext Ltd was the provider of teletext and digital interactive services for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 in the United Kingdom. Origins ''Teletext Ltd'' started providing teletext services for ITV and Channel 4 on 1 January 1993, replac ...

in 1993, Sbectel moved to its own page space on pages 300-399 and became directly run by

. In 2003, Sbectel moved to pages 400-499 (which replaced pages 300-399 as S4C's page space). This was due to

(the equivalent of S4C in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

outside

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

) closing their Sbectel equivalent, FourText (formerly ''4-Tel''), and launching a new teletext service in conjunction with Teletext Ltd,

Teletext on 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, on pages 400–499. In September 2007, the bilingual digital text service available on S4C Digidol was launched only to

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

viewers in Wales. When the first area in Wales (most of South West Wales) completed its

Digital Switchover Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

on 9 September 2009, 'Sbectel' also ceased. Partly it has been replaced by service pages from S4C and BBC on the internet.announcement s4c
/ref>

References

External links

4-Tel and Sbectel gallery
Teletext BBC S4C 1982 in British television Products and services discontinued in 2009 1982 establishments in Wales 2009 disestablishments in Wales {{Wales-tv-stub

Content

History

See also

References

External links