Ceefax

“And it is because CEEFAX goes into the homes of families like these that today nearly fourteen billion citizens are now able to read our broadcast.”

~ Rule Davenbay.

CEEFAX (more commonly spelt as Ceefax) was a galaxy-wide Teletext system founded in 1974 by Ray-William Johnson with supporting by the BBC. During the Galactic Civil War, it was used as an imperial propaganda tool which shown the exploits of general Sidious Palpatine in a positive light. Used by the Galactic Republic and later by the Earth Empire, the Ceefax service was still in use after the Great War. It was not until 2804 that the Yuuzhan Vong succeeded in destroying the entire network. But until then, the service was used throughout the history of the Earth Empire.

Summary

A screencap of Ceefax from 1994. Note the "BBC" logo.

Messages were routed along millions of non-mass hyperwave transceivers buried in Hyperspace and routed through massive computer sorters and decoders to reach their sometimes very distant destinations through s-threads. This technology enabled data to be sent and received at faster-than-light speeds, ensuring near-instantaneous communication from one end of the galaxy to the other. It should also be noted that the information transmitted via the Ceefax system was almost impossible to be captured by spies, thanks to s-thread's incredibly narrow dimensions. The only way to do so was to attach a listening device to the emitter/receiver itself. The service was an extremely costly expenditure, both for transceiver placement/maintenance (funded by the government) and for consumer Television equipment. However, it was one of the major methods of communication in the galaxy.

History

In 1973, it was decided by the Galactic Republic to create a quick and near-instant way of distributing text-graphics to a television set. Though the Teletext service had been developed in 1962 and was already being used, it was at this point based almost entirely on Earth, with relays from outside of the planet requiring Subspace transmissions which could take days or even weeks. The purpose of Ceefax was to make a standardized, universal and simple teletext system which could be used throughout the galaxy without server issues due to it being based on just one planet, as was the current situation. Two engineers, Ray-William Johnson and Sha Nain, were ordered by the republic to make this concept a reality. After testing several experiments of using Computer-based .FM transmissions, the test was referred to as "BEEBFAX". However, after receiving a grant from the British Broadcasting Company, it was not long until the current system was invented after several test-runs from a server from the city of Montreal in Canada to Coruscant.

A famous Test card used during the black-out of the service during the Clone Wars. After its first usage here, it would become a standard stock-pattern.

In 1976, plans to expand the Ceefax service to the Outer Rim Territories were delayed due to budgetary restructuring according to the General Ministry Communications Agency. 2500 worlds in several sectors, including Kamino, Taris, Legoagaino and Kathol, were not to see access for one fiscal year. Where they lacked in primary Telecom conduits, they made up for with a network of Subspace relay stations for intersector communications, resulting in delayed galactic news reaching those sectors within days or weeks. When Emperor Sidious Palpatine assumed power, large portions of the system were shut down to prevent news of the Empire's atrocities from spreading quickly. During the time of the Empire, the usage of Ceefax was strictly controlled, used mostly for Imperial Military communications. This greatly inhibited the ability of groups like the Alliance to Restore Democracy to communicate, and arguably also had an isolating effect on the many planets over which the Empire held power. During this period, Ebenn-Qi Baobab created an alternative Teletext operation called ORACLE since the official Ceefax disseminated only Imperial propaganda without the "complication" of unapproved free speech.

After the reign of Palpatine ended in 1983, all Television channels and Ceefax services were reopened and security was lifted, restoring free speech. However, ORACLE would still be in use in some oppressed areas of the galaxy up until 1992, when Baobab decided its usefulness had greatly diminished. In 1989, the InterNet was invented. This was similar to Ceefax and other Teletext services in that it delivered long-distance information, but it also offered a wide-range of services like chatting to other people, Bulletin Board Systems and E-mail to name but a few. However, it was accessed via autonomous microcomputers such as IBM XTs or Unified Operating System "dumb" protocol Terminals. However, despite being superior to other similar services like Prestel or Usenet, the InterNet was used mainly by Offices or places of Higher Education. In 1994, the television group Channel 4 decided to release their own version of teletext, known as 4-Tel. Up until its forced demise, over fourteen billion people used Ceefax every day.

See Also

• Television, what Ceefax and Teletext was accessed through.
• InterNet