This review follows a public consultation undertaken in late 2009, which produced over 5,600 responses, and included a study of the BBC's own research into how viewers engage with the service.

I have captured the key points below but the full report can be read on the BBC Trust website.

Wide usage

The review shows that BBC Red Button has a large and varied audience. With 12 million people using the service every week, it's the most used interactive TV service in the UK and the only interactive BBC service available to the UK's 'offline' population. As the digital replacement for our analogue text service Ceefax, it's an important source of instant information for millions of people. It's also a means to deliver a greater choice of programming; near on-demand video from large events such as The BBC Proms and Glastonbury, as well as minority sports that wouldn't otherwise make it into a crowded schedule. Given BBC Red Button's value in delivering what's often niche content we're delighted that the review points to such broad appeal.

Value for money

Digital Text is the most used part of the BBC Red Button service and accounts for only a small proportion of its total cost. By drawing upon news, weather, and sports content already produced for BBC Online we're able to offer audiences great value for money.

Making the most of interactivity

The review points out where there's room for improvement. Generally speaking, features that run on top of live TV viewing like sing-along lyrics during Eurovision or interactive quizzes during shows like In It To Win It are shown to be popular, as is our support for big events like Wimbledon and T in the Park.

Certain content is proven to be more expensive to produce and tends to be less popular, particularly interactive experiences which are not related to live channel broadcasts. Although we've already started to move away from producing this type of content it's helpful to have this confirmed and the Trust has agreed that we should continue to play to our strengths in providing cost-effective services that enhance and complement the live TV experience.

The review suggests that viewers some times struggle to find what is actually being broadcast on the BBC Red Button service. Although this information is available online and inside the Radio Times magazine, we are investigating better ways of making this information more widely accessible.

Clear editorial priorities

The review shows that despite its popularity, audience appreciation of BBC Red Button is moderate in comparison to what we offer online. Whilst this is true of interactive services from other broadcasters across the board, we'll need to look into why exactly this is. It's also important that we articulate more clearly what the service stands for. For instance, the review suggests provision of information on local politics falls below users' expectations but that they don't feel that this should be a high priority for the service.

It's a tricky balancing act, but the findings will help us to focus on delivering quality core content, and to avoid providing information that users already access elsewhere. In the context of the recent Strategy Review 'Putting Quality First' which places an emphasis on doing fewer things better, it's important we keep in mind audience expectations as we shape our products.

Market fragmentation

The review reflects that, unusually for our services, BBC Red Button distribution costs account for the majority of service spend. This is partly due to the efficiencies of re-versioning material from BBC TV, Radio and Online (and so less spend on content), but also because the cost of serving BBC Red Button across different platforms is relatively high.

The Trust has asked us to review these distribution costs to ensure better value for money and posed the question whether, in a world of constrained bandwidth, this is the best use of the BBC's broadcast capacity.

That said, despite substantial distribution costs, the sheer number of BBC Red Button users equates to a relatively low cost per user, of 6.4p per user per week.

BBC Red Button has always been about innovation and as Internet and broadcast technologies converge, we should look to introduce more services via broadband, where capacity is less of an issue.

And, it's clear that as Internet-connected TV develops, standardised products built (as much as possible) on open technologies will enable us to maintain cost-effectiveness and minimise complexity for both users and the industry.

There is huge creative potential for the future of BBC Red Button. The service currently provides a link between linear TV viewing and interactive features so could prove to be an important gateway into Internet-connected TV experiences.

BBC Red Button could also contribute to the growth of media literacy within the new TV landscape. More than 40% of BBC Red Button users (five million people each week) don't use BBC Online, and we believe the service could play an important role in taking these offline audiences online, or by providing digital content to them via broadcast.

Our thinking over what we'll be doing is still evolving and we'll provide more updates on this in due course. In the meantime, we'll continue to post round ups of 'What's On' BBC Red Button, on the Internet Blog.

John Denton is Managing Editor, TV Platforms, BBC Future Media & Technology

But whilst we enjoy your great feedback, a large number of your comments received are around the lack of Red Button content on Freeview due to restricted bandwidth on that platform.

We do try to use the capacity available to cater for the widest range of programmes and we have reduced run times of certain programmes to fit in as many services as possible.

Our top priority is major events especially Sport but also events such as Glastonbury, BBC Proms, Chelsea Flower Show, alongside Wimbledon and this year’s World Cup.

Outside of these events decisions are made based on a number of factors including: linear TV schedule, live services with uniquely available content, continuity for on-going and returning services, as well as providing a range of different genres to engage the widest possible audience. I hope you enjoyed these programmes that included for the first time this year; Dragon's Den; Inside the Den; Radio4 Comedy from Edinburgh Festival and Bake Off which taught people how to bake for Children In Need.

In the countdown to 2012, we are also showing a lot more Olympic sports including Youth Olympic Games from Singapore; Paralympics World Swimming, BMX all featured.

When we have to make a choice between different events of the same genre (often the case with sport and music festivals), we aim to offer what we think will be the most popular service based on previous audience figures. At the same time we endeavour to offer unique content and to enhance and not duplicate that already available on linear TV channels.

Occasionally it looks like we are showing the same content on BBC One (or Two etc) as on BBC Red Button but this is when we hand over from those channels to Red Button and we have a cross-over period. Often Red Button will be showing a live stream when BBC One is also showing some of that sport, but we have decided that maintaining one live stream on Red Button even if BBC One is showing some of it is preferable.

So we do agree that when live events are available on Red Button, Freeview viewers do not always receive the same amount of video content as on satellite or cable - although you can watch the same content for free via bbc.co.uk and often BBC iPlayer – but for all other content we aim to make sure it is scheduled on Freeview during the week.

To help viewers find the video content on Freeview, we introduced Electronic Programme Guide information available by pressing ‘i’ on your remote controls when watching a Red Button video or from the Electronic Programme Guide for channel 301. This allows you to record video (if you have a PVR) and also to make a note of times, a feature that is not available on other platforms.

Coming up in the next week is The Commonwealth Games where we will be looking to bring all viewers the very best of this sporting event. I hope you enjoy it.

John Denton is Managing Editor, BBC Red Button

Now you have the chance to tell others how you feel and to influence what we do in 2010 and beyond!

The BBC Trust, the BBC's governing body, is holding a public consultation about BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC Red Button. Go to BBC Trust website to have your say.

Read more and comment at Press Red.

John Denton is Managing Editor for BBC Red Button

It is always a challenge to ensure that they understand the breadth of coverage and number of viewers using the service seeing as often there is no comparable service in their own country.

One such interview was with Tracy Swedlow of itvt.com. Tracy has covered interactive TV for many years and her newsletter is read by people working in the industry, across the world.

You can find the interview on itvt.com, or listen to it using the embedded player below. There's also a MP3 version for download.

Read more, comment and listen at Press Red blog

John Denton is Managing Editor, BBC Red Button

It is a really critical time for BBC Red Button, with large audiences still using our services but with many, many more competitors coming into the market. So with one face focussed on serving existing audience and the other facing to the future, we juggle the difficult job of keeping present platforms fresh but ensuring that we are at forefront of new developments.

This year will see more broadband connected TVs and set top boxes arrive on the market. With this potential technology change, a number of our team are concentrating on understanding what the creative, technical and user experience will be on these new devices and how this will shape BBC Red Button in the future.

Read more and comment on the Press Red blog.

John Denton is Managing Editor, TV Platforms Group

TV Platforms provide all of the technical development skills led by a team of producers and project managers and ably supported by testers and design (or user experience - UX).

Read more and comment at Press Red blog.

John Denton is Managing Editor, TV Platforms, BBC Future Media & Technology