RTE to close Aertel

The Parish Priest.

RTE are planning to close down Aertel in the coming months, will there be a backlash against this ? I would imagine a lot more licence fee payers use it than use 252Lw for example

webpal

Didnt even know they still had it

NIMAN

Also didn't know they operated it.

I am sure usage figures are really low, so could go if it saves money.

Having said that, I'm sure some people will be out of work due to this decision.

MOH

I know somebody who uses it quite regularly for news, etc

The Cush

BBC too are moving in this direction, switching off MHEG5 based interactive services in favour of connected HbbTV services. Freeview Play in the UK, Saorview Connect here later this year.

Broadcasters throughout Europe are also switching over to HbbTV based services, Germany launches its FreenetTV Connect Hbbtv platform next week.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

I'd have thought its used by a lot of elderly people. I know a couple of older people who can not get their head around a smart phone who use it a lot.

sammyjo90

Oh Lord me dad will go spare.
He won't be able to check up flights anymore!

The Cush

The Parish Priest. wrote: »

RTE are planning to close down Aertel in the coming months,

Do you have source for this?

Ministerial approval will be required, preceded by a public consultation I assume.

jimmycrackcorm

I wonder is it to do with the cost of manual maintenance or perhaps tied in with the proposed redundancies?

I'd be surprised that they couldn't have an.application that would convert internet data sources such as their own news automatically to the required format.

Father uses it to check the horses every evening.
He'll have to get one of them clever phones I suppose.

The Cush

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I wonder is it to do with the cost of manual maintenance or perhaps tied in with the proposed redundancies?

That combined the imminent launch of Saorview Connect I assume.

SPDUB

NIMAN wrote: »

Also didn't know they operated it.

I am sure usage figures are really low, so could go if it saves money.

Having said that, I'm sure some people will be out of work due to this decision.

Can' see that it will save much money

They don't appear to have any editor for it as they import articles directly from the website without any editing so many news pages have " click here for more information" or captions for pictures that of course don't exist .

I wonder is it to do with the cost of manual maintenance or perhaps tied in with the proposed redundancies?

Personally I'm getting the impression of the attitude "It's old technology so lets kill it off "

Atlantic Dawn

The old timers will go mad over this, expect Joe Duffy to have a call or 50 about it tomorrow.

D0NNELLY

Aul lads internet..

The Cush

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

The old timers will go mad over this, expect Joe Duffy to have a call or 50 about it tomorrow.

The same thing was said about analogue switchoff, an even bigger change, don't remember it ever been discussed on Joe Duffy's show at the time.

Gerry Wicklow

I must be an Aul Lad so, because I used it less than an hour ago to check the news. Hitting text on the TV is a lot easier than getting the phone in just the right sweet spot to get a signal or boot up the PC. No long wave, no buses, no banks..... I think I need to fire up my gramophone to unwind :P

jimmycrackcorm

D0NNELLY wrote:

Aul lads internet..

More like aul lads telex.

The Cush

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

For the first time in very long time I accessed Aertel just to see what was on p161, after the above was posted. In the past I regularly used it to check p169 (prev, p530). It was great in its day but no contest with wifi now.

Atlantic Dawn

Adult teletext, lol...
Mod: I'll have to delete that link, I'm afraid

ozmo

The Cush wrote: »

For the first time in very long time I accessed Aertel just to see what was on p161, after the above was posted. In the past I regularly used it to check p169 (prev, p530). It was great in its day but no contest with wifi now.

https://www.rte.ie/aertel/desktopxhtml/161-1.html

Weather..

rubadub

Aertel is back on my Virgin analogue channels, on rte 1&2. Not sure when it came back, I pressed the wrong button on the remote and saw it there.

Apogee

Has this ever been confirmed by RTE or mentioned in the press?

Phat Dick

They have stopped mentioning aertel completely, notice at the end of soaps they now only give the website address for helplines and not the aertel page

icdg

Apogee wrote: »

Has this ever been confirmed by RTE or mentioned in the press?

It has been mentioned in the press previously. The problem is that there remains a statutory obligation on RTE to provide a teletext service despite the fact that the technology is now all but defunct.

ruwithme

only seen this now.i,de take aertel anyday when sitting in front of the tele over asmart phone or other device for looking up sport results or news.larger viewing screen and quicker than slow broadband in rural ireland.hope they keep it even if it's just for me. ☺

rubadub

icdg wrote: »

the fact that the technology is now all but defunct.

are there any actual stats on this? I still use it all the time, its refreshing to turn to page 103 the moment I wake up and see news void of horrible click bait crap and other nonsense, even on legit sites it is flashy crap and I prefer the straightforward style of aertel. I use it for tv & film listings and the odd time for "celeb news" -again mainly since I know what I will get, devoid of irrelevant nonsense. There have been a few times I spotted the likes of gigs coming up which friends of mine who were major fans, who are internet savy and subscribed to bands/alerts etc, did not hear about before I did on aertel.

Ghost Train

Web link to aertel. Still nice quick way to browse the news

https://www.rte.ie/aertel//desktopxhtml/100-1.html

icdg

rubadub wrote: »

are there any actual stats on this? I still use it all the time, its refreshing to turn to page 103 the moment I wake up and see news void of horrible click bait crap and other nonsense, even on legit sites it is flashy crap and I prefer the straightforward style of aertel. I use it for tv & film listings and the odd time for "celeb news" -again mainly since I know what I will get, devoid of irrelevant nonsense. There have been a few times I spotted the likes of gigs coming up which friends of mine who were major fans, who are internet savy and subscribed to bands/alerts etc, did not hear about before I did on aertel.

While I’ve no stats, Aertel - the actual original teletext service, **not** the MHEG “Digital Aertel” - is I think the only WST teletext service now going (save perhaps for a couple of the horse racing channels?) in Ireland or the U.K. Furthermore it’s only available on Virgin Media’s analogue service and Sky (the latter only if you connect your box by SCART, not HDMI). Do the maths on how many still use either of these viewing methods as their main source of viewing.

mike2084

icdg wrote: »

While I’ve no stats, Aertel - the actual original teletext service, **not** the MHEG “Digital Aertel” - is I think the only WST teletext service now going (save perhaps for a couple of the horse racing channels?) in Ireland or the U.K. Furthermore it’s only available on Virgin Media’s analogue service and Sky (the latter only if you connect your box by SCART, not HDMI). Do the maths on how many still use either of these viewing methods as their main source of viewing.

Both At The Races and Racing UK ended their text services last year, I would say Aertel is only one left.

Never Say Never Again

Does anyone know the reason why it was written into legislation in 09 that rte must have a teletext service ? Since mpeg5 isnt actually teletext, does that mean they techneally closed teletext on saorview over 5 years ago?