Teletext in North America(computer.rip)
computer.rip
Teletext in North America
https://computer.rip/2025-08-25-teletext-in-north-america.html
38 comments
Very cool. Found the web version also: https://nos.nl/teletekst
I hope they won't kill it, but you can experience it even leaner on: https://teletekst-data.nos.nl/webplus?p=101. It's my preferred way of quickly checking the news in The Netherlands, and it works on all devices.
In Switzerland, Teletext somehow proved popular enough you can now access the content (with the same nostalgic look and feel, modulo some advertising) online and on a mobile app.
https://www.teletext.ch/
https://apps.apple.com/ch/app/teletext/id308630240?l=en-GB
https://www.teletext.ch/
https://apps.apple.com/ch/app/teletext/id308630240?l=en-GB
> somehow proved popular enough
In my view Teletext has a great property: A single page is short. Thus news articles must be compact and straight to the point. Unlike the text here, which I can fill with fluff, unrelated side remarks and repetition, a teletext author has to find the essence in the news and focus. That makes scanning Teletext news quick while giving a good view on what is "important" (by the standards of that broadcaster)
In my view Teletext has a great property: A single page is short. Thus news articles must be compact and straight to the point. Unlike the text here, which I can fill with fluff, unrelated side remarks and repetition, a teletext author has to find the essence in the news and focus. That makes scanning Teletext news quick while giving a good view on what is "important" (by the standards of that broadcaster)
Yep. No bias, no matter which political side you choose, you just got raw news in any channel.
That was great for objectivity and fairness.
I don't know how you read that into my post.
It is quite different: Having such a limited channel as Teletext one has to be even more selective on the news being reported and then which aspects of it to report.
Over here in Germany I got some TV stations discussing on celebrity news, some station focusing on economy/business news, others on political things, some in sports.
But yeah, USA has this "two sides" issue with a touch of zero sum (it's always either this or that side and either helping one or the other side)
It is quite different: Having such a limited channel as Teletext one has to be even more selective on the news being reported and then which aspects of it to report.
Over here in Germany I got some TV stations discussing on celebrity news, some station focusing on economy/business news, others on political things, some in sports.
But yeah, USA has this "two sides" issue with a touch of zero sum (it's always either this or that side and either helping one or the other side)
The constant belief by people that somehow, if you remove information, you reduce bias is insane.
I assure you, Pravda could fit it's biases, lies, propaganda, and omissions in 160 characters. Bullshit has always been easy to shrink.
It is nuance, context, framing, etc that you are eschewing in your mistaken belief of "no bias".
I assure you, Pravda could fit it's biases, lies, propaganda, and omissions in 160 characters. Bullshit has always been easy to shrink.
It is nuance, context, framing, etc that you are eschewing in your mistaken belief of "no bias".
And there's no images. I really hate those news pages that are 90% photo
The actual infra-backend of the swiss Teletext is quite cute, just a single, Windows 2000 (if I remember correctly, maybe Server-edition) PC, running in a Datacenter-rack, on the floor of course, with about one dude who knows how it all works. Not sure how other countries do it, probably with similar, archaic setups.
At least that was the state about 10 years ago, maybe they upgraded the infra since then.
At least that was the state about 10 years ago, maybe they upgraded the infra since then.
The Dutch national broastcaster upgraded their Teletext infrastructure (which was still running on old tech from the 80s) back in 2023: https://over.nos.nl/nieuws/teletekst-kan-weer-jaren-vooruit-...
The website (https://nos.nl/teletekst/101) and app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eoffice.an...) are very popular (no ads on either), but so is the website which covers a fraction of a modern browser's screen.
There's something about the short-form just-the-facts writing that makes information and news much easier to read than the puff pieces you find on many websites these days.
The website (https://nos.nl/teletekst/101) and app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eoffice.an...) are very popular (no ads on either), but so is the website which covers a fraction of a modern browser's screen.
There's something about the short-form just-the-facts writing that makes information and news much easier to read than the puff pieces you find on many websites these days.
Love this. Many years ago I provided Teletext as a Mac OS X Dashboard Widget using content provided free of charge by a friendly Dutch guy who extracted it from the broadcast signal using some special hardware. Good times.
Woah, my old web page is still up: https://www.gingerbeardman.com/ceefaxviewer/
UK, too!
https://nmsceefax.co.uk
https://nmsceefax.co.uk
The Czechs too: https://teletext.ceskatelevize.cz/?p=100-1
It seems like it would be a pretty neat little hobby project to develop a common teletext viewer / aggregator for all of these links people are putting up!
It seems like it would be a pretty neat little hobby project to develop a common teletext viewer / aggregator for all of these links people are putting up!
Same in Austria: https://teletext.orf.at/channel/orf1/page/100/1
Spain too:
https://rtve.es/television/teletexto
Private channels have teletext pages too.
https://rtve.es/television/teletexto
Private channels have teletext pages too.
I'll pile on with the swedish equivalent:
https://www.svt.se/text-tv/100
https://www.svt.se/text-tv/100
Same in Italy: https://www.televideo.rai.it
Your link doesn't work for me. Try this: https://www.televideo.rai.it/televideo/pub/index.jsp
By the way, an interesting book called "La TV da sfogliare. 1984-2024. 40 anni di Televideo" by Guido Barlozzetti came out this year.
It's super interesting (if you speak Italian and) if you're curious about the history of the Italian teletext.
By the way, an interesting book called "La TV da sfogliare. 1984-2024. 40 anni di Televideo" by Guido Barlozzetti came out this year.
It's super interesting (if you speak Italian and) if you're curious about the history of the Italian teletext.
I bought my first Closed Captioning device in 1976. PBS stations in selected cities were using NTSC Line 21/22 for all their captioning and one-way tele-texbtbox needs (CC2/TEXT).
Also Sacramento NBC 3 started delivering closed-captioning in 1977.
FCC didn’t standardize until 1980.
I still have the decoder box.
Also Sacramento NBC 3 started delivering closed-captioning in 1977.
FCC didn’t standardize until 1980.
I still have the decoder box.
In 1988 I worked for around a year for a company which used NAPLPS for various Data Broadcast advertising devices.
It actually had quite impressive graphics capabilities, although the vector graphics took some time to draw (using NEC V30 CPUs), and an additional graphics processor chip (made my Intel if I recall).
Data Broadcast being a commercial use of the UK TV channel for various things, i.e. essentially a commercialization of the data channel over which Teletext was sent, Teletext had some of the flyback lines, DB had some others.
It actually had quite impressive graphics capabilities, although the vector graphics took some time to draw (using NEC V30 CPUs), and an additional graphics processor chip (made my Intel if I recall).
Data Broadcast being a commercial use of the UK TV channel for various things, i.e. essentially a commercialization of the data channel over which Teletext was sent, Teletext had some of the flyback lines, DB had some others.
>stock quotes and news
Subtitles at page 888 too, where the subs could be overlaid on top of a movie instead of the full TTXT page.
Subtitles at page 888 too, where the subs could be overlaid on top of a movie instead of the full TTXT page.
First form of the Color Computer, not the original TRS-80, apparently.
https://vintagecomputer.ca/agvision-videotex-terminal/
https://vintagecomputer.ca/agvision-videotex-terminal/
Meanwhile, in Chicago, station WFLD introduced a teletext service called Keyfax, built on Ceefax technology as a joint venture with Honeywell and telecom company Centel.
To try and solve the chicken-and-egg problem with the adoption of teletext decoders, Keyfax started in Chicago by broadcasting a static rotation of the data pages all through the overnight hours. It was kind of fascinating to watch back then.
https://youtu.be/Bgs0kbxo68w
To try and solve the chicken-and-egg problem with the adoption of teletext decoders, Keyfax started in Chicago by broadcasting a static rotation of the data pages all through the overnight hours. It was kind of fascinating to watch back then.
https://youtu.be/Bgs0kbxo68w
i used to work at KSL! we did some other crazy interactive tv early in the social media era… we actually won an emmy for creating a completely interactive tv show.
Can anyone recommend a good CSS replacement for viewing this site? The author posts interesting content but the site itself is unbearable.
Firefox reader mode
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-reader-view-clu...
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-reader-view-clu...
Your browser probably comes with a reader mode for that exact reason. Works on this website without any issues on my devices (in Firefox).
body { background-image: none; }
Bamboozle!
Teletext had a better run in Europe for the same reason as public transport: higher population density. It is more economical when you can spread the cost over more customers. In places as sparsely populated as flyover US & Canada, the cost of maintaining a teletext presence wasn't worth the handful of contacts you'd get out of it. Boston or New York could have benefited, but for the rest of the country, it was brutally outperformed by the cork board.
Teletext is one way. Your receiver decodes the page you request, but you have no uplink.
Teletext was made by major broadcasters, so NBC/ABC/CBS in the US might have had a service. It is just broadcasted as part of the signal, so the actual hardware is in the end users device. All TV's in the UK and Europe just had teletext decoders built in as standard. The cost of entry was not high at all. The only expense was updating the content. But honestly, that wasn't really a massive effort unless you wanted a lot of graphics (ASCII style, obviously.) It was a bout as much effort as a local news paper or a well maintained BBS.
Teletext was made by major broadcasters, so NBC/ABC/CBS in the US might have had a service. It is just broadcasted as part of the signal, so the actual hardware is in the end users device. All TV's in the UK and Europe just had teletext decoders built in as standard. The cost of entry was not high at all. The only expense was updating the content. But honestly, that wasn't really a massive effort unless you wanted a lot of graphics (ASCII style, obviously.) It was a bout as much effort as a local news paper or a well maintained BBS.
You're looking at it through internet-era glasses. We're talking late 70s to early 80s tech and prices. Equipment was expensive. Clients were charged by the minute. Without city-level populations, the numbers didn't pan out. If the prospects were brighter, companies would have been more serious about converging on a standard.
A late 80s / early 90s BBS is no comparison. Cost-per-everything in computers had plummeted by then--even kids could host a BBS with the family computer.
Per wiki on Prestel (i know it's videotex, but the article covered both):
Hosting Costs:
> In 1985, British Telecom estimated that for an IP using a typical minicomputer (such as the PDP-11) located 100 km from London and handling up to 10 users simultaneously at peak times, the one-off software set-up cost would be at least £16,000, communication costs would range from £4,280 to £5,550 a year (depending on the type of connection), and Prestel usage would cost £8,600 a year.[82]: 4
Usage Costs:
> At the launch of the commercial service in September 1979, and in addition to phone charges, users were charged 3p per minute online to Prestel from 8 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday, and 3p for three minutes at other times. Installing a phone jack-socket cost £13, with a quarterly rental of 50p. Business users paid an additional standing charge (i.e., a flat charge regardless of usage) of £12 per quarter.[23]
> By October 1982, the online usage charge had risen to 5p per minute (8 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday and also 8 am to 1 pm on Saturdays, free at other times), the business standing charge to £15 per quarter, residential users now paid £5 per quarter, and jack installation cost "from £15", with a 15p quarterly rental fee.[24]: 2
Content Distribution Costs:
> A main IP rented pages from the Post Office (initially) or British Telecom (later), and controlled a three-digit master-page in the database. In 1982, this cost an annual £5,500 for a basic package,[24]: 1 equivalent to around £29,000 in 2021.[80]
A late 80s / early 90s BBS is no comparison. Cost-per-everything in computers had plummeted by then--even kids could host a BBS with the family computer.
Per wiki on Prestel (i know it's videotex, but the article covered both):
Hosting Costs:
> In 1985, British Telecom estimated that for an IP using a typical minicomputer (such as the PDP-11) located 100 km from London and handling up to 10 users simultaneously at peak times, the one-off software set-up cost would be at least £16,000, communication costs would range from £4,280 to £5,550 a year (depending on the type of connection), and Prestel usage would cost £8,600 a year.[82]: 4
Usage Costs:
> At the launch of the commercial service in September 1979, and in addition to phone charges, users were charged 3p per minute online to Prestel from 8 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday, and 3p for three minutes at other times. Installing a phone jack-socket cost £13, with a quarterly rental of 50p. Business users paid an additional standing charge (i.e., a flat charge regardless of usage) of £12 per quarter.[23]
> By October 1982, the online usage charge had risen to 5p per minute (8 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday and also 8 am to 1 pm on Saturdays, free at other times), the business standing charge to £15 per quarter, residential users now paid £5 per quarter, and jack installation cost "from £15", with a 15p quarterly rental fee.[24]: 2
Content Distribution Costs:
> A main IP rented pages from the Post Office (initially) or British Telecom (later), and controlled a three-digit master-page in the database. In 1982, this cost an annual £5,500 for a basic package,[24]: 1 equivalent to around £29,000 in 2021.[80]
No, I was there. I'm British and in my 50's. I lived through this. I'm not remembering something I was told or reading you a Wikipedia article, I actually used this technology regularly in the 80's and 90's before Digital TV/DVB killed it off.
Prestel was something else. It was a teletext style system, but teletext was on every TV in the UK after the BBC started broadcasting CEEFAX (their service) and ITV started providing TELETEXT (their service). Channel 4 also had a service, but I don't remember what it was called.
Teletext was using the same style of presentation (BBC Micro had mode 7, and this was Prestel/Teletext compatible.) But Teletext was one way - it was broadcasted as part of the TV signal and your TV would decode the data and display it. If you wanted a specific page, you entered the number and then the receiver waited for the broadcast to get to that page and it decoded it and displayed it. There was no uplink. It all happened as part of the transmission and all of the pages were transmitted serialy in order so you would feel like entering in 123 would load page 123 directly, but actually it was displayed the next time 123 was transmitted.
Prestel was something else. It was a teletext style system, but teletext was on every TV in the UK after the BBC started broadcasting CEEFAX (their service) and ITV started providing TELETEXT (their service). Channel 4 also had a service, but I don't remember what it was called.
Teletext was using the same style of presentation (BBC Micro had mode 7, and this was Prestel/Teletext compatible.) But Teletext was one way - it was broadcasted as part of the TV signal and your TV would decode the data and display it. If you wanted a specific page, you entered the number and then the receiver waited for the broadcast to get to that page and it decoded it and displayed it. There was no uplink. It all happened as part of the transmission and all of the pages were transmitted serialy in order so you would feel like entering in 123 would load page 123 directly, but actually it was displayed the next time 123 was transmitted.
In fact - ITV had ORACLE till the early 90's, Channel 4 had 4-TEL and TELETEXT didn't replace ORACLE till about 93. I forgot about ORACLE....
For a national broadcaster it would have cost peanuts.
And there were no per minute costs. Teletext was part of the video signal. Every page was transmitted over and over and the TV just chose which one to display. Now expensive TVs could also cache some pages or even all 1000 (this was the max number)
And there were no per minute costs. Teletext was part of the video signal. Every page was transmitted over and over and the TV just chose which one to display. Now expensive TVs could also cache some pages or even all 1000 (this was the max number)
ssh teletekst.nl