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
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.
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.
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.
Still that many! Incredible. I do remember reading about Dutch teletext being maintained (content wise) by only one or two people. Fascinating phenomenon.
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.
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]
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.
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/
Edit: Sorry all, it looks like teletextarcheologist.org went dormant, so the archive no longer seems to be working.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
>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-poppenk... (Dutch news article)
Still that many! Incredible. I do remember reading about Dutch teletext being maintained (content wise) by only one or two people. Fascinating phenomenon.
I just found out today that the Dutch teletext can be viewed through ssh:
`ssh teletekst.nl`
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.
"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".
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
[1] https://yle.fi/aihe/tekstitv?P=191
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
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-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/
Edit: Sorry all, it looks like teletextarcheologist.org went dormant, so the archive no longer seems to be working.
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.
Teletext still exists, and you can browse it online, for example via this page: 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.
Irish Teletext no mentioned :'(:
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.
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. (-:
And in Ireland home internet dial up didn't really appear until the mid 90's outside of very dedicated ISDN setups.
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 !!