Sir, – The closure of RTÉ's Aertel service is reminiscent of one of those celebrity deaths that immediately evoke the thought “So was he still alive then?” It was a valuable service in many ways, one more of which is probably worth adding to the list by Hugh Linehan (“Aertel brought Day-Glo immediacy into a drab, analogue world”, News, October 4th). Page 888 provided subtitles to whatever programme you were watching. This presumably opened a large variety of previously unavailable entertainment to hearing-impaired people around the country. It was also extremely useful to facilitate my young children going to sleep about 15 years ago while I watched a muted television and even allowed me to follow the dialogue for whole minutes on The West Wing. That habit of using subtitles has never left me. It’s incredible how recently it felt futuristic! – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O’BRIEN,
Kinsale,
Co Cork.