Teletext on ITV and CH4

jabarrett35 · 14-07-2002 4:14pm #1

Hi all
I was wondering if anyone else has the same problem with getting Teletext on ITV and CH4 on Sky digital. I have a FTA card and the Ceefax or whats left of it on BBC still works fine. However I get nothing on ITV or CH4 though I do get subs with CH4. I've reboot several times.
Any help would be most appreciated.

Charles Slane · 14-07-2002 4:43pm

Unfortunately the company that provides teletext for Channel 4 and ITV's terrestrial broadcasts (the company is actually called "Teletext Ltd") does not supply the service to them on Sky Digital. Apparently they had some kind of enhanced digital teletext service on ITV Digital, but I'm not sure if that's still active.

Teletext's holidays service is available through the Interactive button, but for some reason they've chosen not to expand this to reflect their full ITV/Channel 4 service.

The 4-Tel service is available from page 300 on Channel 4, but this is only for information on Channel 4 and it's programmes.

Considering it's taking so long for Teletext's complete service to appear on Sky Digital, I get the impression that it won't have a full launch any time soon.

jabarrett35 · 14-07-2002 4:47pm

Thanks Charles for that. I suppose it shows that the BBC have still got the edge in the digital world to some extent even with all ITV's money.

DMC · 14-07-2002 7:07pm

Charles is right.

I'll fill in some blanks. Treat Teletext as an ITV franchise, like Grampian, HTV or UTV. It came into being in 1993, after it outbid the mostly ITN run and long since admired "Oracle." (remember "Page the Oracle" ads?) This was also the same day as TSW was replaced by Westcountry, TVS by Meridian, TV-am by GMTV (shudder) and Thames by Carlton (shudder shudder).

So why is it not on DSat? Simple. Teletext's contract is for analogue terrestrial only, nowt mentioned for Dsat. For ITV's and Ch4's teletext service, there is not a lot of interaction between itself and Teletext.

Some ancillary services, like 4-tel on Channel 4, are run on ITV text p600, which can be picked up on Dsat (in places)

14-07-2002 8:46pm

And just to add to this....
That Teletext company which provides teletext for analogue ITV and CH4 is now also providing their service in full on Channel five analogue teletext.It is virtually a mirror of what they do on ITV eg. TV plus on page 110,news on 300 etc.
It had been without a service, (apart from some programme info pages from 500 onwards) for some time.
mm

carrolls · 14-07-2002 11:59pm

Does anyone know is the teletext available on ITV and Channel 4 on Digital terrestrial?

sceptre · 15-07-2002 12:18am

Originally posted by carrolls
Does anyone know is the teletext available on ITV and Channel 4 on Digital terrestrial?

Charles seems to say above in this thread that it is.

Charles Slane · 15-07-2002 12:54am

To the best of my knowledge, the services that are available on analogue ITV and Channel 4 were mirrored on ITV Digital, but were shown on a seperate channel.

I would imagine that it was much the same as Teletext Holidays is on Sky Digital. Not so much a case of pressing "text" while watching a terrestrial channel, but pressing some kind of "interactive" or "text" button that would take you away from the ITV or Channel 4 service, and into a more complex version of the normal teletext that we see on NTL/Chorus/terrestrial services.

People who had/have access to UK terrestrial digital (Madman especially) should be able to confirm or deny this.

DMC · 15-07-2002 10:52am

On digital terrestrial, Teletext appears as a standard "channel", Channel 9 on the remote, and is not integrated into the ITV or Channel 4 signal, like it is on analogue.

icdg · 15-07-2002 8:02pm

It has guarenteed carrige on the Digital 3 & 4 mux, Mux 2. (Services from muxs 1, 2, and A remain operational). It isn't quite the same service as on analogue terrestrial, go to Mike Browne's site mb21.co.uk to see more!

Has anyone seen Teletext Limited's adverts in the Irish Times recently (one today). Why???? Prices in pounds. And referring to UTV as ITV1 is not something you do in the Irish market.

15-07-2002 9:59pm

Originally posted by icdg
It has guarenteed carrige on the Digital 3 & 4 mux, Mux 2. (Services from muxs 1, 2, and A remain operational). It isn't quite the same service as on analogue terrestrial, go to Mike Browne's site mb21.co.uk to see more!

Has anyone seen Teletext Limited's adverts in the Irish Times recently (one today). Why???? Prices in pounds. And referring to UTV as ITV1 is not something you do in the Irish market.

Just back from NI-I go there a lot lately:):p
Anyhow,The Irish times is actually widely read there, from what I've seen(I saw it being read today in a cafe ).
What it's measure of abc 1 adults would be, compared with the local papers, I don't know.
But I think, adds for"services"(in adverted comma's) there, do appear in that all Ireland paper and can apparently be justified on that basis.
The fact that they are reaching the rest of the island with an add is a bonus.

I don't have UK DTT here at the moment,my brother has the Box and since a lightening strike overnight on the 31st of may , it's kaput

But I do remember the extra ITV teletext channel, which also had a square window of HTV Wales in in the same way as , BBCi text.
mm

Teletext on ITV and CH4

Comments