Teletext to axe digital cable service

Teletext announced today that it plans to scrap its interactive services on digital cable, blaming a "general lack of growth" on the platform.

The company currently provides a service on the "walled garden" of adapted-for-TV websites carried by ntl and Telewest.  This, Teletext said today, will be closed as part of a move to shut down its main web operation.

"Whilst the website has attracted audiences of several hundred thousand monthly users, the company does not see a realistic prospect of it delivering an acceptable return," the company said in a statement.  "Similarly the 'walled garden' cable services do not show potential for sufficient commercial gains, further impacted by the general lack of growth and investment in the platform itself."

Forty-five jobs are expected to go in the downsizing.  The London Evening Standard, which like Teletext is a unit of Daily Mail & General Trust, reported that the operation "is expected to be concluded by August."