AERTEL CLOSURE: 22.06.1987 - 12.10.2023

marclt · 02-10-2023 4:55pm #1

RTÉ itself is reporting the closure on 12th October.

They don’t like giving much notice do they?!

__________________________________

Image of RTE AERTEL map of Ireland teletext page

RTÉ will close the Aertel service on Thursday 12th October 2023.

In RTÉ’s Strategy 2024, published in 2019, RTÉ announced the closure of Aertel as part of its ongoing and necessary evolution into a public service media organisation, offering a blend of live and on-demand services and compelling and varied programming and content to audiences, when and where they want.

Since 2019, due to the need to prioritise the delivery of digital services to meet growing audience demand, RTÉ has diverted resources previously allocated to the Aertel service towards the improvement of RTÉ’s online services such as RTE.ie, RTÉ Player, the RTÉ News app and the RTÉ Radio Player app.

In addition, the introduction of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, means RTÉ is no longer legally required to provide a Teletext service.

RTÉ’s decision to close the Aertel service is based on three main factors:

The availability of all Aertel content – and more – across RTÉ’s television, radio and online services, including the RTÉ News and RTÉ Radio Player apps, and on other online platforms and media.
Increased audience demand for RTÉ programming and content online and through apps and smart speakers.
Lack of support technology available for Aertel, a limited legacy text service. Many technical components in the Aertel systems are no longer supported by the manufacturer, with further elements losing support later this year. The technology required to deliver the Aertel service has limited availability and is not supported on many newer TVs or set top boxes.

All Aertel information is no available onwww.rte.ie/aertel.

RTÉ’s Information Office is available to respond to emails to info@rte.ie and to answer queries over the phone on (01) 2083434 to ensure that Aertel users know where they can find information they may have previously accessed via Aertel.

oneilla · 02-10-2023 6:16pm

I preferred using it to catch the headlines. No ads , no popups, no notifications going off. Got a new TV but it didn't have the tuner.

SPDUB · 02-10-2023 8:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121186196#Comment_121186196

This a thousand times .

03-10-2023 11:10am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121188317#Comment_121188317

I think the actual problem is the old technology is no longer supported by the people who make it.

When they’re looking for a €50+m bailout I’d expect at the very least they began dropping unnecessary expenses. Maintaining Aertel, like it or not, is an unnecessary expense.

icdg · 03-10-2023 11:12am

As I noted in another thread most people are not able to use the original Aertel service any more and haven’t been in years. It left Virgin Media when it switched off analogue cable a few years back. It was never on Saorview in the first place.

You need to have a Sky box, which is old enough to have a Scart output, connected via a Scart cable to a TV which is old enough to have a Scart input. If you’ve that setup, you won’t be getting a HD picture, which we keep getting told is the minimum nowadays don’t we?

This is unfortunately obsolete technology. And it’s not like it’s death hasn’t been well flagged, RTE have only been providing it because they were legally obliged to and that obligation was finally repealed in March.

I’m speaking btw of the WST service, not the MHEG-5 version that’s on Saorview. But that’s the Aertel everyone remembers and the one that’s pictured here, I’m not sure if there’s any love out there for the MHEG-5 version.

icdg · 03-10-2023 12:07pm

The other platforms don’t generally support MHEG-5, Sky used OpenTV. Virgin and their predecessors kept changing their middleware (it was Liberate at one stage then OpenTV), although I’m pretty sure that a version did end up being launched on the UPC Mediabox platform, it may even still be going (I presume it’ll be closed too though) but we are talking two generations of STB ago - although there’s a load of them still out there due to the Horizon multiroom box never appearing.

The BBC did use a different name for their next generation version, BBC Text / BBCi / Red Button instead of Ceefax.

RoTelly · 03-10-2023 1:02pm

Funny I think Ceefax and Aertel are great brand names. It is a pity its not kept in some way. Maybe when RTÉ is split up RTÉ 1 will be rebranded AERTEL 1.

RoTelly · 03-10-2023 1:04pm

I assume that as such they use a text service for their Radio Stations on Saorview.

Taxburden carrier · 03-10-2023 3:43pm

In fairness ‘twas better than the RTE player.

SPDUB · 03-10-2023 11:46pm

You need to have a Sky box, which is old enough to have a Scart output, connected via a Scart cable to a TV which is old enough to have a Scart input. If you’ve that setup, you won’t be getting a HD picture, which we keep getting told is the minimum nowadays don’t we?

As I said before I look at with my combo box through a HDMI cable on a telly which has no scart socket

The TV , from 2020 , itself can display it from the RTE satellite signal which was I was surprised to discover one night

lertsnim · 04-10-2023 7:16am

Teletext is still going right across Europe. A lot of satellite set top boxes have teletext on them. It is a pity that Sky didn't include it.

The Cush · 04-10-2023 7:27am

Focus next will be on their HbbTV testing to replace MHEG-5 services

2rn-HbbTV-testing-update[1].pdf

icdg · 04-10-2023 7:57am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121191991#Comment_121191991

Teletext is supported by Sky, at least to the extent that if you use a compatible connection (ie Scart) and your TV supports WST, you can use the TV to view the teletext carried by the broadcaster, if the broadcaster carries it. A number of channels had it at the inception of Sky Digital. However HDMI doesn’t carry it; and so in order to access teletext on Sky, you need to be connected via Scart. Sky Q, obviously doesn’t have a Scart connector, so no text support there. RTE may be the only channel left on the platform that is still carrying teletext, unless the racing channels are still doing so. The UK channels all gradually stopped teletext, as it was seen as analogue, and some (BBC, Sky, and Teletext Limited) developed OpenTV (or MHEG-5 on Freeview) equivalents. Only the BBC’s is still going though (although they are slowly getting rid of it by the back door, it’s not on Sky Q or newer Freesat boxes).

Some models of UPC Mediabox actually have their own teletext decoder, but obviously Sky never did anything like that. As I say I think an OpenTV version of Aertel did make it to UPC Mediaboxes (but not to Horizon and certainly not TV360) but I’m not sure if it’s still going.

lertsnim · 04-10-2023 8:15am

Yes what I meant was including an encoder on their set top box.

TAFKAlawhec · 04-10-2023 12:49pm

"RTE may be the only channel left on the platform that is still carrying teletext, unless the racing channels are still doing so."

Racing UK (now Racing TV) was the final UK broadcaster to have a teletext service, but it closed down in 2016.

oneilla · 04-10-2023 8:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121188350#Comment_121188350

I used the MHEG-5 version for years and preferred it to using the rte website. It gave me the headlines and a quick weather forecast.

TAFKAlawhec · 05-10-2023 4:55pm

As far as I'm aware, the only versions of Aertel currently running are the WST version on satellite (for the few still watching Sky SD broadcasts via SCART, component AV or analogue RF) and the MHEG5 version on Saorview.

In the UK there's no WST teletext services running any more (see my post a couple before this) and the MHEG5 text services are now limited to that provided by the BBC that is (deliberatel?) restricted to older receivers that can't run the iPlayer from the Red Button. An old Sony TV from 2011 shows up the MHEG5 text, but my current Samsung 2016 model TV doesn't. The MHEG5 text service is still running on the BBC channels, but is surely on borrowed time given that they were looking to scrap it a few years back and was only kept on thanks to some public pressure.

WST teletext is still going in some mainland European countries, might get some screenshots if I get the chance...

byte · 05-10-2023 8:57pm

On some HD satellite and combi receivers (most have built in text encoders), I tuned in RTE One SD for the WST Aertel. Channel was obviously encrypted but text still worked.

Personally, I preferred the WST version over the MHEG5 version, though admittedly haven't either much at all in the last few years.

byte · 05-10-2023 9:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121198634#Comment_121198634

RTL

ProSieben

Some examples on Astra 1.

byte · 05-10-2023 9:32pm

EDIT: Double post due to boards having another meltdown...

TAFKAlawhec · 07-10-2023 6:39pm

Good man Byte! Here's a few more just captured this evening...

RTP (Portugal)

ARD/Das Erste (Germany)

TVR Romania

TVP (Poland)

ZDF (Germany)

SRF Info (Switzerland)

RAI (Italy)

And finally, TVE International (Spain)

TAFKAlawhec · 08-10-2023 6:44pm

And a few more from this afternoon...

ORF (Austria)

NOS/NPO (Netherlands)

CT (Czechia/Czech Republic)

RTVS (Slovakia)

RTS (Serbia)

TRT (Turkey)

HRT (Croatia)

and finally, RTV SLO (Slovenia)

...altogether the prevalence of teletext is still quite wide in Continental Europe, though outside of German speaking countries it is now largely limited to PSB or state broadcasters these days in my experience. Only the UK, France, Luxembourg & Greece (and soon to be Ireland) from what I can see seem to have completely abandoned WST teletext (except maybe for subtitles).

byte · 08-10-2023 9:07pm

I wonder now, if RTE will switch to DVB subtitles as used by BBC etc., or continue using the WST type teletext with blocky characters.

Schorpio · 09-10-2023 2:26pm

None of those teletext screens show Aertel (as it is right now)!

As others have said - this is still receivable via the Astra2 feed using an enigma2 receiver (or probably some other combi boxes too). I note that enigma2 caches the text pages, so after a few minutes every part of the service is instantly available. Is there any way to save the cache, does anyone know? Would be good to archive a snapshot of the WST (traditional) version of Aertel before it disappears.

marclt · 09-10-2023 7:50pm

there are teletext archivist groups on Facebook… someone there might be able to assist on how to capture the service.

byte · 09-10-2023 8:22pm

I think the Teletext Archaeologist would be a good start for somebody to ask:

https://teletextarchaeologist.org/

Apogee · 09-10-2023 11:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121214335#Comment_121214335

As a test, I recorded a few minutes of encrypted output from RTE 1 SD on satellite on an enigma2 box. I rebooted the box to clear the memory and when I played back the encrypted file, I was able to access the Aertel WST. Not sure it captures 100%, but any pages I tested were OK. The clock on top right is obviously frozen indicating it's not live.

Schorpio · 10-10-2023 9:34am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121216618#Comment_121216618

Great minds! I did the same last night. A bit of googling (and looking at some of the Teletext Archaeologist's website) has given me the names of some programs to try.

For what it's worth, most of the pages on the Teletext Archaeologist site have been recovered from analogue SVHS(or even Beta) recordings. That won't work for me as I can only access the encrypted RTE service on Astra, which gives me no picture. It would only be an option to someone with an old, but still functional, Sky box. (Ideally Sky+ to avoid messing with external recordable media).

It's a pity that it's so tricky on enigma2. You can clearly see that the service is cached as it's broadcast. Seemingly there's no easy way to dump the cache into a file (at least without getting into the weeds of coding, and I won't have time for that before the shutdown).

Apogee · 10-10-2023 7:31pm

I tried the following and it seemed to work. Download TtxFromTS

https://github.com/orryverducci/TtxFromTS

Command line (must identify PID of Teletext part of TS in decimal): TtxfromTS.exe --pid 2345 -i rte.ts

This generates a folder of files with .tti format. You can import .tti into

https://zxnet.co.uk/teletext/editor/

rte.zip

.tti files output attached

odyssey06 · 12-10-2023 7:08am

Will we miss Aertel?

Commentary in The Journal

For the public, Aertel’s value was beyond question for many years, serving as the most immediate source of up-to-date information available to a public that did not carry the entire history of human knowledge around in its pocket.

https://www.thejournal.ie/aertel-2-6193398-Oct2023/

Apogee · 12-10-2023 8:30am

Some of the reports today have archive footage of Aertel Interactive (via telephone). Did anyone have direct experience of this or know how long this service ran for?

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/0717/890917-aertel-interactive/

SPDUB · 12-10-2023 8:51am

As of this moment ( 952am ) I can still access the full service of the WST service off satellite but on my Saorview set can only get a message on pg 100 saying it is closing

SPDUB · 12-10-2023 11:01am

As of 1158am news headlines on WST says last update at 1016 but while I can still go to stories any that are multi page are stuck on a page which is not necessarily pg 1

Schorpio · 12-10-2023 11:26am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121227028#Comment_121227028

Yes - in that I remember using it, but I can't recall anything that was on there.

Essentially, you'd dial the number and be given an Aertel page to navigate to. That was 'your' page, and you interacted with it with the telephone. I remember hunting through some of the adjacent page numbers, hoping to find some that someone else was controlling. Never did though.

It being a freephone number meant that I was allowed to use it to my heart's content. I only remember using it once or twice though.....can't have been many (any?) games on it.

Apogee · 12-10-2023 5:24pm

Aertel WST no longer present on RTE One SD on Astra.

RTE News report:

https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/1712529319648436691

Micheal Varadkar · 13-10-2023 9:02am

RTE have said In multiple press releases that "Digital Aertel" has only been available since 2019 🙄

Micheal Varadkar · 17-10-2023 12:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121227028#Comment_121227028

I wonder why it never took off? Reminds me of unison TV internet boxes, an affordable way to have basic internet access & an email account without a computer in the 90s but didn't sell.

icdg · 17-10-2023 2:38pm

In the 1990s anything like that would have been treated with suspicion, the fear of the high phone bill was real, it’s hard to explain in todays era of all-inclusive packages for a flat fee but back then you looked on anything that wasn’t a local number off peak with dread.

RoTelly · 18-10-2023 3:05pm

Now that it has close what are they using for subtitling ?

The Cush · 18-10-2023 3:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121255314#Comment_121255314

No change, separate data stream, Teletext subtitling

BrianD3 · 24-10-2023 7:49am

About 1.5 weeks since closure and I realise how much I must have used Aertel. Have barely watched RTE since. E.g. in the mornings, my previous routine would have been to go to RTE and spend several minutes browsing Aertel and maybe look at some of the tripe (e.g. repeats of the Today Show) that RTE was broadcasting at the time. Now i just go straight to sky news and it doesn't' give me what I want..

AFAIK, teletext is still going strong in Germany, Austria and other continental and Scandinavian countries. This is telling - the people in these countries are more sensible and less likely to be useful idiots welded to their smartphones (OMG, there's an app for that!) while mindlessly scrolling and clicking.

I'd say one of the problems RTE had with Aertel is it couldn't be monetised in the same way as the web can. Back in the day, I believe it was mostly or fully self funding from advertising and the bookmaker pages etc. In recent years this will have gone and many people didn't even know that the service was still running as it wasn't promoted which suited RTE and gave them justification to close it.

Micheal Varadkar · 24-10-2023 9:15am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121277134#Comment_121277134

Someone on another website suggested that RTE should have monetised it by doing a deal with RIP.ie years ago to carry it's death notices on Aertel

AERTEL CLOSURE: 22.06.1987 - 12.10.2023

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