News Ticker - Current Uses

Current Uses

The presentation of headlines or other information in a news ticker has become a common element of many different news networks. The use of the ticker has been different on a number of different channels:

• Financial news channels use two or more tickers progressing at different speeds, displaying stock prices and business headlines.
• Networks with a focus on sports often use a slightly different system, where scores and status of current and finished games are displaced one by one, along with minor sports highlights.
• News networks commonly use a setup in which news headlines are scrolled across the bottom half of the screen, though some variations have formed, such as CNN International presenting them without a scrolling effect, and showing one headline at a time.
• Usage of the scroller has also grown in a number of local news stations, used during hours of severe weather to provide information about storms and areas affected by them, in addition to other uses, such as presented school delays and cancellations during winter weather in some regions, and the presentation of headlines alike to the general news networks.

Due to their prevalence currently, they have been occasionally been made targets of pranks and vandalism. For example, News 14 Carolina used a ticker where viewers could submit relevant information such as school closings or traffic delays via telephone or Internet, and in February 2004 the system was exploited to display humorous messages, including the infamous "All your base are belong to us".