September 21, 2026

NEW: Local WFLD (Chicago, IL) Keyfax found *WITH UPDATE*

We now have our first confirmed local Keyfax sample from WFLD in Chicago. This sample was at the very end of a Betamax tape recorded in the BIII speed, 98% of which contained a 1986 airing of the film, "Octopussy," as part of the ABC Sunday Night Movie (WLS-TV, Chicago). The date of the sample is April 24, 1984.

Unfortunately, the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) during the content is very unstable. What this means is that a clean decode was impossible (and I tried my best). You can view this sample, which came from a tape loaned for transfer by Monique Sammie Brie, here. Hopefully there's more where this came from at some point.

UPDATE (09/21/2026, 20:58 ET): Second WFLD Keyfax sample discovered

I wrote the initial article sometime after midnight. Since then, a second Keyfax sample from WFLD has been discovered. This sample is dated April 17, 1982; this is our earliest teletext sample to date, beating the previous record, which was set by another Keyfax sample dated July 31, 1983.

September 21, 2026

NEW: Virtext (WGN Teletext) from June 1989 discovered

WGN's Virtext (later WGN-TV Teletext) is a bit of a unknown here. We have very little samples (soon to be 2) and we didn't know approximately when the service launched or shut down. However, on September 19, WGN content was found at the beginning of a Betamax that contains two episodes of the BBC series, "Tenko". The content, which only lasted about a minute, was an MLB game between the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros. Virtext was present in the VBI.

Surprisingly, I was able to get some relatively clean pages from just one minute of data. One of these pages was the index page, which notes that WGN has been broadcasting teletext "in cooperation with ZENITH continuously since 1980!" In another page, WGN does acknowledge the "Virtext" name, but in the past-tense, saying, "[a]t that time, it was called 'Virtext'," referring to when the service launched in 1980. We're not sure how much longer Virtext lasted, but this sample helps show just how long it was broadcast.

Data decoded by TVTA. Tape/sample courtesy of Monique Sammi Brie.

September 18, 2026

MILESTONE: 100 available teletext samples

At around midnight, after adding a few newly submitted samples to the database, the website has officially reached 100 available submissions. The sample that flipped the count to three digits was a CBS ExtraVision sample from KLFY (Lafayette, LA) dated October 31, 1991, contributed by B.D..

I honestly didn't think we would get this far in a little over a month. As of this writing, the site is only 38 days old. To have 100 samples in that amount of time is amazing to me. It's a testament to those who have contributed to the site – the site wouldn't be what it is today without them. To our contributors: thank you for helping to make this site what it currently is.

September 17, 2026

NEW / COMING SOON: StarSight EPG data has been decoded; new page coming soon

StarSight EPG data has been decoded

For the last few days, myself and a few others have been researching information about a VBI service called National Datacast (NDI), which was provided by PBS. In the early days of NDI, one of the services it provided was EPG (electronic program guide) listings from a provider known as StarSight.

What spurred this research was the presence of teletext-like data in the VBI seen in recordings from KCET (Los Angeles, CA), a PBS affiliate. Attempts to decode this data in Decode-Orc using both the NABTS and Teletext sinks produced no results, so we wanted to figure out what this data could be. At first, we suspected that it might be another teletext standard known as Antiope, created in France. However, as we dug deeper, we began to suspect that this data was possibly related to NDI. With that, I and the others began trying to find as much information as we could about NDI and what standards it used. This information would be sent to the developer of a custom fork of the CC_Decoder project.

Let's move forward to September 14. Initial tests with submitted VBI samples conducted by the developer mentioned earlier showed that StarSight data was discovered in the VBI data, which came from recordings from the statewide PBS network KET in Kentucky; these recordings were from late 1998. Soon after, we started to get our first results showing decoded StarSight data, data rendered in HTML, but much of it was incomplete, likely due to the short runtimes of the samples, meaning longer samples would be needed to get a better sense of what data was being transmitted.

Soon after, updated code was published to the fork on GitHub for testing. Yesterday, September 16, I transferred two hours of data recorded from KCET on May 3, 1994. I had initially submitted a ten minute sample about a week ago, but no data was found, likely because the sample was too short. After decoding the sample and running it through CC_Decoder, I opened the HTML file and saw a very populated table containing rows for program title, channel ID, days of the week, and program start times, to name a few. This is the most extensive StarSight data we have as of now. The VBI sample has been sent to the CC_Decoder fork developer so more can be done with the existing code since this sample has much more data than any of the previous samples.

Coming Soon: New page for StarSight data

Now that we have this newly decoded data, it has been suggested that there should be a way to view this data. Granted, HTML files are already generated from CC_Decoder, but like with the teletext and text samples, there should be a central place to view this data. That's why I'll soon be adding a new page for viewing this decoded StarSight data. This page is currently under construction. There will be a lot of backend logic to make this page work with the provided JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) files, so I cannot provide an exact date as to when this page will be available. I'm hoping it'll be available in the next few days or so. Once it's available, it'll be under the "Other Teletext Pages" navigation dropdown link.

September 13, 2026

Images from the first decoded Canadian teletext sample; a website name change

Earlier this morning, a post was forwarded to the Teletext Discord group, a post made in another group, showing the first images from the first confirmed decoded example from a Canadian teletext service. These images are from the Edutel teletext service, a NAPLPS (North American Presentation Layer Protocol Syntax) service which was broadcast on Canada's TVO (formerly TV Ontario) network. The sample is dated August 19, 1983.

With this discovery being made, I (the website creator) have decided to rename the website. Why focus on just the U.S. when our neighbors in Canada used similar teletext standards? Those services need a home, too. With that said, the name of the site is changing to the "North American Teletext Archive". We're all about being inclusive. We're looking forward to hopefully adding more Canadian samples at some point!

Images courtesy of cowraft.

September 13, 2026

Shutdown date for KET AGTEXT confirmed

One of the text (non-teletext) services we have been archiving on the site is Kentucky Educational television's (KET) AGTEXT (Agricultural Text) service. This was a service provided by KET in cooperation with the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture. The service provided daily updates about daily agricultural news, such as weather reports, agricultural news and information, and agriculture prices. There isn't much information about AGTEXT overall, so we had neither a launch or shutdown. As of today, we now have an approximate launch date and an exact shutdown date.

According to an AGTEXT sample dated November 7, 1998, the latest sample we have so far, KET announced that AGTEXT would shut down on January 31, 1999. The launch date for AGTEXT was sometime in December 1983. Read KET's statement below, which comes from that November 1998 sample.

September 11, 2026

National launch date for Electra confirmed

Exactly two weeks after finding a page from SSS Teletext showing Electra's shutdown date, we now have a definitive launch date for the national version of Electra which was broadcast on TBS: January 1, 1985.

A preview of Electra was discovered in a recording from TBS (then WTBS) from November 18, 1984. Pages P100-P150 were in the stream, so it appears it's a complete Electra sample.

Images courtesy of cowraft.

September 8, 2026

CBS ExtraVision from January 1992 discovered

We now have a sample of ExtraVision from 1992, specifically January 19, 1992. It seems that we're getting closer to finding a definitive shutdown date for ExtraVision. As a reminder, multiple sources have stated that ExtraVision shut down in 1988.

Images courtesy of Digitmouse.

September 8, 2026

TBS continued broadcasting teletext through 1997

When we first started decoding samples of Electra from tapes with content recorded from TBS, we assumed, based on the information already out there, that Electra shut down sometime in 1993. Then, in mid-August, a submission was sent in showing stock pages dated December 1995, pages exported from a teletext stream transmitted by TBS.

We first assumed that this was Electra and that we had evidence to refute the claim that Electra shut down in 1993, like what we had discovered with CBS's ExtraVision and NBC Teletext. However, especially after finding the page about Electra's shut down (see August 26, 2026, update), that proved that those pages weren't Electra per se. Rather, these were part of a group of pages from TEMPO, more specifically, stock listings. Moreover, this service was called SSS (Satellite Syndicated Systems) Teletext.

All that leads me to September 7, 2026. While a submission was received yesterday (September 6) with pages decoded from a recording dated 1996, screenshots were posted to the Teletext Discord group showing the index page of SSS Teletext dated March 16, 1997. This is the most recent teletext example we have seen so far, and honestly, quite a surprise to us. To add, the "SSS Teletext" name was not present on the index page, so we're not sure if the teletext service changed names or if SSS decided to just drop the name on-screen. In any case, seeing teletext data from as recently as 1997 was interesting.

You can view this sample in its entirety here.

September 7, 2026

NEW: First known example of non-O&O CBS affiliate passing through teletext during local programming

We previously assumed that only O&O (owned & operated) CBS affiliates, such as WCBS (New York, NY) and others passed through CBS's ExtraVision service at all times. Indeed, we have samples from station such as the aforementioned WCBS and KDFW (Dallas, TX) to back up that claim. Today, we discovered the first example of a non-O&O affiliate passing through ExtraVision during local programming.

This affiliate is WCPX (now WGMK - Orlando, FL). One of the newest ExtraVision samples submitted today was dated June 30, 1986. The data was captured during an airing of the original Star Trek series. However, there were no records of that program airing nationally on that day. It then hit us: this was a local, syndicated broadcast.

WCPX passed through the full teletext stream during the program, which is significant. This, of course, proves that some non-O&O stations did choose to pass through the entire teletext stream during local programming. We're actively trying to find out if any other affiliates did this same thing.

You can help us out by submitting samples yourself or contacting us regarding tapes with possible teletext. To contact us regarding the former, use this form; for the latter, use this form. If you would like to learn how to submit samples yourself, refer to this section in the "Archiving Teletext" page.

August 29, 2026

WST teletext discovered on 1984 WGN (Chicago, IL) content

We've just received images of WST teletext on WGN-TV in Chicago (note that this is unrelated to the superstation feed of WGN). This service was called Virtext. We don't known anything else about this service, mainly because we had never heard of this service until we saw these photos.

We've just received images of WST teletext on WGN-TV in Chicago (note that this is unrelated to the superstation feed of WGN). This service was called VirText. We don't known anything else about this service, mainly because we had never heard of this service until we saw these photos.

If we find out anything else, this page will be updated.

August 28, 2026

Electra shutdown date confirmed; TEMPO stock pages continued through 1995

We can now confirm the definitive shutdown date for Electra: June 11, 1993. This news was discovered from a decoded Electra page found on a TBS broadcast of an episode of Perry Mason from March 22, 1993.

While Electra ceased operations in 1993, stock listings provided by TEMPO, however, did not. TEMPO data was broadcast alongside Electra, and even after Electra's shutdown, TEMPO data continued to be transmitted as late as December 1995.

August 18, 2026

CBS ExtraVision from late 1991 discovered

This story just seems to keep developing. On August 17, 2026, screenshots were uploaded to the Teletext Discord group showing exported pages from ExtraVision dated November 26, 1991. To reiterate, various sources have reported that ExtraVision was shut down in 1988, and now we have an example from three years after that date. See some examples below.

This story just seems to keep developing. On August 17, 2026, screenshots were uploaded to the Teletext Discord group showing exported pages from ExtraVision dated November 26, 1991. To reiterate, various sources have reported that ExtraVision was shut down in 1988, and now we have an example from three years after that date. See some examples below.

How much longer did ExtraVision last? For now, we don't know. As more samples are decoded and submitted, we should have a better idea as to when ExtraVision actually shut down. For now, we can confirm it lasted through late 1991.

Stay tuned to this page for more updates as we get them.

August 13, 2026

NBC Teletext from Late 1985

Sticking with the theme of "sources say one thing but the evidence says otherwise," we have an example of NBC Teletext from October 1985. Various sources have stated that NBC's service shut down in January 1985.

Images courtesy of Zaroff's Video Archives.

Again, there are some errors, but hopefully those will be resolved over time.

NBC's service is a bit of an oddity. According to someone capable of transferring VHS via FM RF, a VHS tape with content recorded in mid-January 1985 did not contain teletext data in the VBI. However, as you can see above, a VHS tape with content recorded in October 1985 did contain teletext. As of now, there's no clear reason as to why it seems NBC shut down the service, then brought it back. We also don't know exactly when NBC restored the service or when they shut it down for good. Hopefully, as more samples are decoded, we will have a clearer answer.

NBC's service is a bit of an oddity. According to someone capable of transferring VHS via FM RF, a VHS tape with content recorded in mid January 1985 did not contain teletext data in the VBI. However, as you can see above, a VHS tape with content recorded in October 1985 did contain teletext. As of now, there's no clear reason as to why it seems NBC shut down the service, then brought it back. We also don't know exactly when NBC restored the service or when they shut it down for good. Hopefully, as more samples are decoded, we will have a clearer answer.

August 13, 2026

CBS ExtraVision did not shut down in 1988 CBS ExtraVision did not shut down in 1988

You may have read before from various places that ExtraVision shut down in 1988. However, what if I were to say that wasn't the case? Have a look for yourself...

Those are recently decoded pages that come from a VHS recording from February 28, 1990; you can even see the full date in one of the photos. Let me add that there are a lot of decoding issues with these pages. Part of that is likely due to current limitations with Decode-Orc. As I've stated elsewhere, the software is still in development, so there may likely be less of those issues as development progresses. Another possible issue is that the videotape these pages were sourced from was recorded in EP/SLP mode, which can make obtaining cleaner decodes more difficult due to the lower quality.

Anyway, this was quite a development because, based on currently available information, no source has stated that ExtraVision lasted past 1988.