4 ms·

A Global Look at Teletext

mvdwoord 1y ago
Thanks for sending me down a little mini rabbit hole, this triggered some memories on old teletext decoders for Amiga back in the 90s. Anyway, I distinctly remember my father getting a new TV with teletext around 1987, and I could play endlessly with that. Also amazing that up until way in the 2000s I knew people who relied on it as the primary source for basic headlines, weather, but also traffic information on trains as well as expected landing times for airplanes. Of course the football standings in the Dutch Eredivisie was possibly the most viewed page of all. Completely wiped out by the internet, but all in all a surprisingly long run for any tech. p.s. online still available (Dutch) https://teletekst-data.nos.nl/webplus?p=100-01 https://teletekst-data.nos.nl/webplus?p=100-01
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- clydethefrog 1y ago
  >Completely wiped out by the internet It's not at all, although we can discuss the nature of the medium. >Last year, the Teletekst app was used daily by an average of 690,000 people. They opened the app an average of 2.4 million times per day. The news index on page 101 was accessed 1.9 billion times in 2024, making it the most visited page, followed by the football index 801, with 530 million visits. https://nos.nl/artikel/2561892-informatief-en-zonder-poppenkast-teletekst-bestaat-45-jaar https://nos.nl/artikel/2561892-informatief-en-zonder-poppenk... (Dutch news article)
  - mvdwoord 1y ago
    Still that many! Incredible. I do remember reading about Dutch teletext being maintained (content wise) by only one or two people. Fascinating phenomenon.
- duckerduck 1y ago
  I just found out today that the Dutch teletext can be viewed through ssh: `ssh teletekst.nl`
- NoboruWataya 1y ago
  That looks quite nice. A lot cleaner than the Irish teletext I remember with its very blocky text. I assume it is benefiting from modern fonts on that page and didn't look like that in the 90s? It re-confirms my view that the terminal can be a great way to consume news if the content is specifically created for that format. Just using elinks to browse news websites doesn't really work well these days. I wonder if there are any telnet-based news services (or similar) out there still.
VagabundoP 1y ago
Irish Teletext no mentioned :'(: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT%C3%89_Aertel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT%C3%89_Aertel I don't have terrestrial TV (saorview) anymore to test, but apparently its still broadcast according to the wiki. Teletext was very handy pre-internet, weather, news, TV listings, flight times etc, all on a feed.
- JdeBP 1y ago
  In case anyone wants to dispute VagabundoP's chronology: The Internet was invented in 1973 and testing began of the new protocols in 1975. Teletext, in the form of Ceefax, was pioneered by the BBC in 1972. So yes, Teletext was indeed pre-Internet. (-:
  - VagabundoP 1y ago
    And in Ireland home internet dial up didn't really appear until the mid 90's outside of very dedicated ISDN setups.
tgaj 1y ago
"Poland started with teletext broadcasts in 1988, the year before they exited the USSR." It's a small detail but Poland was never a part of the USSR. Could be changed to "exited the Eastern Bloc".
MrDavros 1y ago
I remember getting my first TV with Teletext (and CEEFAX) I'd use it to look up Movie times at the local cinema and the weather forecast. We've came a long way since then !!
benchly 1y ago
Nice article! I had rediscovered teletext for myself a few years ago, only vaguely remembering it existed (or something similar) in select cities in the US when I was a kid, but it was not something I paid much attention to. Getting interested, I began to wonder if you can set up your own teletext service. Naturally, you can: https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/create-your-own-teletext-service/ https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/create-your-own-teletext-se... For those like me who weren't familiar with the service or lived in a country that really didn't have it, there's this informative site: https://teletextarchaeologist.org/ https://teletextarchaeologist.org/ Edit: Sorry all, it looks like teletextarcheologist.org went dormant, so the archive no longer seems to be working.
Kuraj 1y ago
Polish person here, I can confirm that x-rated stuff on teletext was very much a thing. I have no reason to believe the ad is fake
layer8 1y ago
Teletext still exists, and you can browse it online, for example via this page: https://sites.google.com/view/teletextonline https://sites.google.com/view/teletextonline In case you’re unfamiliar, three-digit numbers on Teletext pages serve as hyperlinks. On a TV you would enter them on the remote control, in the browser you can just click or tap on them. There are also mobile apps for accessing Teletext.
scoopr 1y ago
Probably mentioned on every teletext related submission, but the Finland's public broadcaster YLE still has an avid teletext userbase, if not through a proper TV, then through the website [0] (and there are mobile apps for that too). Some of the news listings are perfect, given confined space, but no need to be click-baity. See, f.ex. the news-in-english page [1] [0] https://yle.fi/aihe/tekstitv https://yle.fi/aihe/tekstitv [1] https://yle.fi/aihe/tekstitv?P=191 https://yle.fi/aihe/tekstitv?P=191
xvilo 1y ago
I’d like to add that Dutch state news broadcaster NOS now offers Teletext though SSH. Just type `ssh teletekst.nl` and you can browse through all their pages. They fully revamped their Teletext backend a couple of years ago to their own solution. They had archaic hardware still, and had to fly in some one from the UK (fully pensioned and well) to service it
- phito 1y ago
  Wow this is amazing, and they support vim keys (hjkl) navigation!
5pl1n73r 1y ago
This stuff is cool as hell. I'd break out a CRT TV and try to get it working, but it feels not worth it without official NTSC or PAL broadcasts. Straight from the analog VBI on air or bust.
horizion2025 1y ago
I think teletext is what triggered my interest in computers etc. It was one of my first experiences with anything computer like. When I was around 9 years old I was visiting my grandmother just the day she was having her new TV delivered. This must have been in the late 80s and we didn't have a computer or anything. I didn't care that much for the TV itself but then he the TV installation guy wanted to show this cool new thing "Tekst TV" (Text TV) as it was called here. It was like a completely new world opening. I sat the whole weekend playing with it. They had satellite TV in the complex she lived, so there were 20-30 channels and lots of cool graphics to explore. Back at home: No teletext, just 1-2 channels.
- bwen 1y ago
  Very similar story from my end here. Spent more time 'watching' TV exploring the different Teletext channels than watching commercial TV. In Australia we had channels which had the weather for different rural places and channels with different jokes that cycled throughout the day. Great memories.
cryo 1y ago
That was a nice read. I didn't know there were vector graphics in these systems. Found Canadian description of the Telidon "Picture Description Instructions (PDI)" https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2020/isde-ised/Co24/Co24-3-8-699-1979-eng.pdf https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2020/isde-...
nunobrito 1y ago
In Portugal circa early 2000s before mass internet adoption we'd use teletext apps for chat. There would be pages as "rooms" and you would send an SMS to a specific number that would then show on the teletext for everyone. The most popular page was the dating page. It was the equivalent of tinder on those days, worked surprisingly well.
hcs 1y ago
When I was recently researching Japanese videotex systems for similarities to CD Graphics, I ran across Captain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_(videotex) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_(videotex) It was somewhat unique in that (at least originally) it only transmitted bitmap graphics, rather than having a hybrid system with some characters in ROM and others dynamically loaded. 1981 publication with specs of the pilot system (PDF): https://hcs64.com/files/Harashima,%20Kumamoto,%20Kitamura%20-%20Japanese%20VIDEOTEX%20System%20CAPTAIN%20-%20tcom.1981.1094931.pdf https://hcs64.com/files/Harashima,%20Kumamoto,%20Kitamura%20...

Thanks for sending me down a little mini rabbit hole, this triggered some memories on old teletext decoders for Amiga back in the 90s. Anyway, I distinctly remember my father getting a new TV with teletext around 1987, and I could play endlessly with that. Also amazing that up until way in the 2000s I knew people who relied on it as the primary source for basic headlines, weather, but also traffic information on trains as well as expected landing times for airplanes. Of course the football standings in the Dutch Eredivisie was possibly the most viewed page of all. Completely wiped out by the internet, but all in all a surprisingly long run for any tech. p.s. online still available (Dutch) https://teletekst-data.nos.nl/webplus?p=100-01 https://teletekst-data.nos.nl/webplus?p=100-01

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
clydethefrog 1y ago
>Completely wiped out by the internet It's not at all, although we can discuss the nature of the medium. >Last year, the Teletekst app was used daily by an average of 690,000 people. They opened the app an average of 2.4 million times per day. The news index on page 101 was accessed 1.9 billion times in 2024, making it the most visited page, followed by the football index 801, with 530 million visits. https://nos.nl/artikel/2561892-informatief-en-zonder-poppenkast-teletekst-bestaat-45-jaar https://nos.nl/artikel/2561892-informatief-en-zonder-poppenk... (Dutch news article)
- mvdwoord 1y ago
  Still that many! Incredible. I do remember reading about Dutch teletext being maintained (content wise) by only one or two people. Fascinating phenomenon.
duckerduck 1y ago
I just found out today that the Dutch teletext can be viewed through ssh: `ssh teletekst.nl`
NoboruWataya 1y ago
That looks quite nice. A lot cleaner than the Irish teletext I remember with its very blocky text. I assume it is benefiting from modern fonts on that page and didn't look like that in the 90s? It re-confirms my view that the terminal can be a great way to consume news if the content is specifically created for that format. Just using elinks to browse news websites doesn't really work well these days. I wonder if there are any telnet-based news services (or similar) out there still.

VagabundoP 1y ago

Irish Teletext no mentioned :'(: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT%C3%89_Aertel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT%C3%89_Aertel I don't have terrestrial TV (saorview) anymore to test, but apparently its still broadcast according to the wiki. Teletext was very handy pre-internet, weather, news, TV listings, flight times etc, all on a feed.

JdeBP 1y ago
In case anyone wants to dispute VagabundoP's chronology: The Internet was invented in 1973 and testing began of the new protocols in 1975. Teletext, in the form of Ceefax, was pioneered by the BBC in 1972. So yes, Teletext was indeed pre-Internet. (-:
- VagabundoP 1y ago
  And in Ireland home internet dial up didn't really appear until the mid 90's outside of very dedicated ISDN setups.

tgaj 1y ago

"Poland started with teletext broadcasts in 1988, the year before they exited the USSR." It's a small detail but Poland was never a part of the USSR. Could be changed to "exited the Eastern Bloc".

MrDavros 1y ago

I remember getting my first TV with Teletext (and CEEFAX) I'd use it to look up Movie times at the local cinema and the weather forecast. We've came a long way since then !!

benchly 1y ago

Nice article! I had rediscovered teletext for myself a few years ago, only vaguely remembering it existed (or something similar) in select cities in the US when I was a kid, but it was not something I paid much attention to. Getting interested, I began to wonder if you can set up your own teletext service. Naturally, you can: https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/create-your-own-teletext-service/ https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/create-your-own-teletext-se... For those like me who weren't familiar with the service or lived in a country that really didn't have it, there's this informative site: https://teletextarchaeologist.org/ https://teletextarchaeologist.org/ Edit: Sorry all, it looks like teletextarcheologist.org went dormant, so the archive no longer seems to be working.

Kuraj 1y ago

Polish person here, I can confirm that x-rated stuff on teletext was very much a thing. I have no reason to believe the ad is fake

layer8 1y ago

Teletext still exists, and you can browse it online, for example via this page: https://sites.google.com/view/teletextonline https://sites.google.com/view/teletextonline In case you’re unfamiliar, three-digit numbers on Teletext pages serve as hyperlinks. On a TV you would enter them on the remote control, in the browser you can just click or tap on them. There are also mobile apps for accessing Teletext.

scoopr 1y ago

Probably mentioned on every teletext related submission, but the Finland's public broadcaster YLE still has an avid teletext userbase, if not through a proper TV, then through the website [0] (and there are mobile apps for that too). Some of the news listings are perfect, given confined space, but no need to be click-baity. See, f.ex. the news-in-english page [1] [0] https://yle.fi/aihe/tekstitv https://yle.fi/aihe/tekstitv [1] https://yle.fi/aihe/tekstitv?P=191 https://yle.fi/aihe/tekstitv?P=191

xvilo 1y ago

I’d like to add that Dutch state news broadcaster NOS now offers Teletext though SSH. Just type `ssh teletekst.nl` and you can browse through all their pages. They fully revamped their Teletext backend a couple of years ago to their own solution. They had archaic hardware still, and had to fly in some one from the UK (fully pensioned and well) to service it

phito 1y ago
Wow this is amazing, and they support vim keys (hjkl) navigation!

5pl1n73r 1y ago

This stuff is cool as hell. I'd break out a CRT TV and try to get it working, but it feels not worth it without official NTSC or PAL broadcasts. Straight from the analog VBI on air or bust.

horizion2025 1y ago

I think teletext is what triggered my interest in computers etc. It was one of my first experiences with anything computer like. When I was around 9 years old I was visiting my grandmother just the day she was having her new TV delivered. This must have been in the late 80s and we didn't have a computer or anything. I didn't care that much for the TV itself but then he the TV installation guy wanted to show this cool new thing "Tekst TV" (Text TV) as it was called here. It was like a completely new world opening. I sat the whole weekend playing with it. They had satellite TV in the complex she lived, so there were 20-30 channels and lots of cool graphics to explore. Back at home: No teletext, just 1-2 channels.

bwen 1y ago
Very similar story from my end here. Spent more time 'watching' TV exploring the different Teletext channels than watching commercial TV. In Australia we had channels which had the weather for different rural places and channels with different jokes that cycled throughout the day. Great memories.

cryo 1y ago

That was a nice read. I didn't know there were vector graphics in these systems. Found Canadian description of the Telidon "Picture Description Instructions (PDI)" https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2020/isde-ised/Co24/Co24-3-8-699-1979-eng.pdf https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2020/isde-...

nunobrito 1y ago

In Portugal circa early 2000s before mass internet adoption we'd use teletext apps for chat. There would be pages as "rooms" and you would send an SMS to a specific number that would then show on the teletext for everyone. The most popular page was the dating page. It was the equivalent of tinder on those days, worked surprisingly well.

hcs 1y ago

When I was recently researching Japanese videotex systems for similarities to CD Graphics, I ran across Captain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_(videotex) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_(videotex) It was somewhat unique in that (at least originally) it only transmitted bitmap graphics, rather than having a hybrid system with some characters in ROM and others dynamically loaded. 1981 publication with specs of the pilot system (PDF): https://hcs64.com/files/Harashima,%20Kumamoto,%20Kitamura%20-%20Japanese%20VIDEOTEX%20System%20CAPTAIN%20-%20tcom.1981.1094931.pdf https://hcs64.com/files/Harashima,%20Kumamoto,%20Kitamura%20...