If you’ve heard commentators mention the vidiprinter and wondered what they’re actually talking about, it’s the on-screen ticker that shows live football scores as they come in. A vidiprinter is a sports scores and results service that feeds into programmes like BBC’s Final Score and Sky Sports News, flashing up goals, half-time scores and full-time results the moment they happen.

This guide explains where the vidiprinter came from, who supplies the data behind it today, when you’ll see it on screen and how to find a version online if you don’t have a TV nearby. It also covers why the vidiprinter became such a fixture of Saturday afternoons in the UK, right down to the moment a host once threatened to hit one with a hammer.

What Is a Vidiprinter?

A vidiprinter is a live results ticker that shows football scores, goal scorers and sending-offs as matches unfold. You’ll see it on BBC One, BBC Red Button, BBC Scotland and Sky Sports News, usually running along the bottom of the screen or as a rolling list during a dedicated scores programme.

It isn’t limited to full-time results. When a significant number of games are in progress, the vidiprinter updates with goal flashes in near real time, so you can follow your team’s afternoon without watching the match itself. The name comes from its predecessor, the teleprinter, a mechanical device that physically typed out results letter by letter.

[Image: screenshot of a vidiprinter feed showing live goal flashes]

How the Vidiprinter Started: From Teleprinter to Screen

The idea goes back to Grandstand, the BBC’s long-running Saturday sports programme. From its early years, the programme showed a live shot of a mechanical teleprinter, with the presenter standing next to it reading out results as they clattered through. Viewers would watch the machine type letter by letter, which built genuine tension for fans of lower-league teams waiting on their score.

The switch to an on-screen computerised version happened at the start of the 1980s, and this is when the term “vidiprinter” was coined. Even after the move to computers, the letter-by-letter typing effect continued all the way until the end of the 2000/01 season, when it was finally replaced with the faster ticker-tape style still used today.

Results in that era came from correspondents working for the Press Association, who attended matches around the country and phoned scores back to London. That basic model, someone at the ground reporting what happens, still sits behind the modern service, even though the technology has moved on considerably.

Who Provides the Vidiprinter Data Today

The Press Association supplied the vidiprinter service from its earliest days right through to the end of the 2012/13 season. Opta Sports took over the contract from the start of the 2013/14 season and has run it ever since, feeding both the BBC and Sky Sports.

Each broadcaster edits the raw Opta feed differently. The BBC creates its own version by removing competitions it doesn’t want to show, while Sky Sports does the same for its programmes. This is why you might see slightly different scores, codes or competitions depending on which channel you’re watching, even though the underlying vidiprinter data comes from the same source.

Where to Watch the Vidiprinter

You don’t need to guess when the vidiprinter will appear. Each broadcaster has its own regular slots, and there are also online versions if you’re not near a television.

BBC Final Score and Sportscene Results

On BBC One, the vidiprinter runs during Final Score, generally from the start of the 3pm kick-offs until just after 5pm once the main results are in. The BBC doesn’t broadcast a scores programme on Saturdays when international fixtures are taking place. BBC Scotland has its own version through Sportscene Results, which shows the vidiprinter from the start of the programme until the classified results are read out, typically somewhere between 4.55pm and 5.05pm.

Sky Sports News and Soccer Saturday

Sky Sports News shows its vidiprinter during lunchtime kick-offs between 12.30pm and 2.30pm, then again through the main Saturday afternoon slate. During the week, Sky’s Soccer Special edition of Soccer Saturday runs the vidiprinter from around 7.45pm until roughly 9.45pm, though it can stay on screen longer depending on how many games are being played that night. On Sundays, Sky’s Soccer Sunday programme now runs from 2pm to 6pm and includes results from five European leagues alongside domestic football.

Online vidiprinters

If you’re away from a television, several websites run their own live vidiprinter feeds. Sporting Life covers league and cup scores from a wide range of global leagues, while Football Web Pages goes further down the football pyramid, including non-league scores from Steps 2 to 4 in England and Scottish non-league football. Sky Sports also runs an online vidiprinter that largely mirrors its TV version, though it leaves out women’s football scores that appear on the broadcast version.

[Table: comparison of vidiprinter sources showing broadcaster or website, competitions covered, availability]

When the Vidiprinter Appears On Screen

The classic vidiprinter slot is still the Saturday 3pm to 5pm window, since that’s when the bulk of English and Scottish league fixtures kick off. Both the BBC and Sky Sports also run midweek editions when enough games are being played on a given evening, and both broadcasters produce full results programmes on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, when a complete set of English fixtures, plus Scottish games on Boxing Day, all take place on the same afternoon.

Sunday coverage has expanded in recent years too. Historically neither broadcaster ran a regular Sunday scores service, aside from the final day of the Premier League season when all ten matches kick off simultaneously. That changed once the BBC regained FA Cup rights and Sky launched its Sunday afternoon programming, which now shows the vidiprinter continuously from 2pm.

How to Read a Vidiprinter

A vidiprinter entry typically follows the same pattern: the competition code, the two team names, the current score, and, for goal flashes, the scorer’s name and the minute the goal went in. Injury-time goals usually show the added minutes played at the point the goal was scored, so you might see a strike credited to the 94th minute during a match with four added minutes.

Broadcasters use their own shorthand codes for competitions rather than spelling them out in full each time, which is one reason the feed can look cryptic if you’re new to it. If you’re unsure what a particular code stands for, most broadcasters list a key on their scores page, since the abbreviations do vary between the BBC and Sky Sports versions of the same competition.

The 3pm Blackout and Why the Vidiprinter Matters

The reason Saturday afternoon scores programmes exist at all comes down to English football’s 3pm blackout, a long-standing rule preventing Premier League, EFL and FA Cup matches from being broadcast live between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays. The rule was designed to protect attendances at lower-league grounds, so instead of live coverage, broadcasters run scores shows built around commentary, studio analysis and the vidiprinter itself.

That’s what made the vidiprinter more than a technical curiosity. For decades it was often the only way fans could find out what was happening in games they couldn’t watch, which explains why it built such a loyal following among supporters of clubs who rarely made it onto live television.

Vidiprinter in Popular Culture

The vidiprinter became genuinely famous through Sky Sports’ long-running show Soccer Saturday, fronted by Jeff Stelling from 1994 until he left the programme in May 2023. Stelling’s on-screen relationship with the machine became part of the show’s appeal, most memorably in August 2013 when a technical fault froze the score updates mid-broadcast and Stelling threatened on air to “thrash” the vidiprinter with a hammer if it didn’t sort itself out.

That kind of moment, half genuine frustration and half pantomime, is part of why the vidiprinter still gets mentioned by name decades after the mechanical teleprinter it replaced. It also turns up in reruns and clip shows as a shorthand for old-school Saturday football culture, alongside memories of the machine’s clattering sound effects, which were reportedly added back in after viewers complained the newer, silent version felt wrong.

FAQ

Q: What does vidiprinter mean? A vidiprinter is a live sports scores and results ticker shown on television and online, most commonly for football. The name comes from combining “video” with “teleprinter”, the mechanical device it replaced on screen at the start of the 1980s.

Q: Who provides the vidiprinter data? Opta Sports has provided the vidiprinter data since the start of the 2013/14 season. Before that, the Press Association supplied the service from the vidiprinter’s earliest days right through to the end of the 2012/13 season.

Q: What time does the vidiprinter start on Sky Sports? Sky Sports News typically shows the vidiprinter from 12.30pm during lunchtime kick-offs and continuously through the main 3pm Saturday afternoon slate. On Sundays, it now appears from 2pm as part of the Soccer Sunday programme.

Q: Can I watch a vidiprinter online without Sky or a TV licence? Yes, several websites run live vidiprinter feeds independently of broadcast television, including Sporting Life and Football Web Pages. These cover a wide range of leagues, including some non-league and international competitions not always shown on TV.

Q: Why does the vidiprinter make a clattering sound? The clattering noise is a nod to the original mechanical teleprinter, which physically typed each letter of a result. When broadcasters moved to a silent computerised version, audiences reportedly missed the sound, so canned printer effects were added back over the top.

Q: Does the BBC still show a vidiprinter? Yes, on television. The BBC removed the vidiprinter from its website in 2017 as part of a wider revamp, but it remains on screen during Final Score on BBC One and Sportscene Results on BBC Scotland.

Q: Why is football not shown live at 3pm on Saturdays in the UK? This is due to the 3pm blackout, a rule preventing English top-flight and EFL matches from being broadcast live between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays. It exists to protect attendances at matches taking place at the same time, which is why scores programmes with a vidiprinter fill that slot instead.

Q: Does the vidiprinter show non-league football? It depends on the broadcaster or website. BBC and Sky Sports television versions cover the National League but not much below it, while the Football Web Pages online vidiprinter goes as far down as Step 6 of the non-league pyramid.