cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/5307804

NRK^[Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation] will discontinue its teletext service on August 20 due to the risk of serious technical issues. Over the course of the past few years, the service has become increasingly difficult for NRK to maintain. The technology is old and very demanding to keep in working order with the rest of NRK's system.

—"Most people are surprised when they find out that teletext still exists. But we know there are still some people who use it to this day," says Audun Aas, product development manager for nrk.no.

Aas says that NRK is doing its best to help teletext users find the information they're used to receiving through the service, elsewhere.

NRK's teletext service celebrated its 40th anniversary two years ago. During the service's 30th anniversary, it was predicted not to last another decade.

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Did you know?

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42 years of teletext

The Norwegian parliament resolved in April of 1982 that NRK would establish a teletext service. The service launched on February 2, 1983.

Establishing a teletext service proved to be such a daunting task that the chief editor of Arbeiderbladet^[Newspaper today known as Dagsavisen. Associated with the Labor Party at the time; became party-independent in 1999 and is now owned by Mentor Media.] was brought on to lead the work.

Surveys show that use of teletext has gradually declined in recent years, with only 3% of Norway's population using teletext as of 2024.

On August 20, 2025, the service will end after 42 years.

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Poll: Will you miss teletext?

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[There's a video from 1979 attached here explaining what teletext is, but I don't feel like translating it right now. The key takeaway is maybe that NRK was already experimenting with teletext by that point, but hadn't officially launched their service yet.]

All information currently available on teletext is also available on nrk.no.