3 October 2012 Last updated at 12:54

Red Button streams to be cut this month

The BBC is to cut its red button service on satellite and cable.

From October 15 it will reduce the number of video streams on red button from five to one. This will bring it in line with the Freeview offering.

The interactive service is high cost and the streamlining is part of the Delivering Quality First drive for savings.

'This will be a disappointment for many viewers,' admits Tom Williams, Vision's development editor for red button and dual screen, 'particularly sports fans.'

Around 20 million viewers press red each month, and the multiple streams prove particularly popular during major events such as the Olympics, Wimbledon and Glastonbury.

BBC Online will continue to provide a choice of streams, while plans are afoot for Connected Red Button. The new service will launch later this year and promises to bring the best of red button and BBC Online content to connected tvs via the web.

Williams believes Connected Red Button - which will only be available to those with smart tvs - will be a step forward. '[It] will lay the foundations for new creative opportunities; new ways of thinking about television and radio programmes,' he writes on the BBC Internet Blog.

'Our goal is to create the best possible tv experience for our viewers in a way that is cost effective and flexible.'