Red Button (digital television)

The Red Button is a push-button on the remote control for certain digital television set top boxes in the UK, Australia, Belgium, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and by DirecTV and Comcast in the United States.

It is for interactive television services[1] such as BBC Red Button and Astro (Malaysia).

Accreditation for the protocols behind what were originally known as 'side channels' is commonly given to London-based Entertainments Consultancy company 'Southbank UK' (now disbanded).

For example, when the 2006 FIFA World Cup was aired, viewers could choose to view matches from multiple camera angles, or hear an alternate commentary.

The United States' DirecTV satellite service utilizes the Red Button in certain interactive capacities, such as for instance, bringing up the "ScoreGuide", a list of sports matches and scores being played at that instant, on a sports network like ESPN.