2023-11-20 13:54:00
In 2016, VRT disconnected its famous teletekst, very popular for live sports results.
Reminder of the principle: you watch La Une, Tipik or La Trois on your television. You press the teletext button on the remote control of the TV decoder or TV. You arrive on the RTBF teletext home page, made up of XXL-sized colored pixels.
Next step, encode three numbers (from 100 to 999) to load a page and consult the day’s news, Lotto results, RTBF channel programs, flight schedules from Belgian airports, etc.
RTBF teletext will continue to survive until February 2024, with its pages relaying information such as the weather, Lotto results, etc. ©Internet
How can we make up for this disappearance from February 2024?
“You can […] find this information on our website (rtbf.be), our television channels, our radio stations, etc. ”, the warning message continues. “All of our platforms allow greater responsiveness to provide you with the most precise information possible, which teletext does not allow. ”
Forgotten by the latest TV decoders
To say that RTBF teletext was slowly but surely falling into disuse in recent years is an understatement.
“ RTBF Belgium 2015”, indicates page 100 of the service, which obviously used an automatic publication system for a whole series of content. As proof, these news which systematically display a question mark instead of the apostrophe. When reading, it’s messy.
Another sign of this gradual abandonment, the web version of RTBF teletext has been left fallow since July 2023. Worse, the latest Android TV decoders from Proximus and Orange are completely ignoring this old technology.
From there to imagining that the platform was only frequented by a handful of diehards, there is only one step that public television refuses to take.
Subtitles will remain
“Honestly, I inquired regarding the attendance and we have no idea how many people still consult our teletext,” explains Romain Delecour, communications manager. “Our mediation teams are aware of this scheduled shutdown, in order to be able to answer all questions and redirect users. We know very well that this risks raising questions. ”
Among the sensitive issues, there is that of subtitles generated via teletext on certain programs on the La Une, Tipik and La Trois channels. “Subtitles will still exist,” reassures Romain Delecour.
In relation to RTBF’s public service missions, there is in any case no obligation to maintain teletext in the decree or management contract.
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