MediaCorp Teletext

MediaCorp Teletext was a Singaporean teletext information service provided by MediaCorp. It was carried on MediaCorp's Channel 5, Channel 8 and Channel NewsAsia. On top of the standard information carried by most teletext providers, it also carried information unique to Singapore, such as COE and ERP rates, announcements from selected ministries in Singapore and lottery results.

The service was also accessible over the Internet since 1999 until its shutdown in 2013.

History

The Singapore Broadcasting Corporation was studying the feasilbility of a teletext service as early as November 1982. Tenders were given to thirty television sets capable to receive such signals By January, SBC was aiming at a possible 1 May launch date. Studies were conducted in the United Kingdom by SBC's news director Lim Kim Tian and since the inception of teletext services in the UK, the corporation (at the time RTS) was monitoring the growth of such services there. With Singapore using equipment similar to Europe, the teletext service was going to be similar to the ones deployed there, but with minor technical adjustments, the most notable being faster access (two to four times). By February, it was now scheduled for "June or July" and was set to be the first of its kind in Asia. British company Logica provided the equipment, while the SBC Text staff were trained by Ceefax executive Graham Clayton for two weeks in May 1983. The first television sets equipped with teletext were to be put on sale in April.

By mid-March, SBC Text was conducting test transmissions. It was used on both channels 5 and 8 from 7am to 11pm, with 100 sets of pages each, in the 100-199 range.

The definitive launch date for the service, 1 August 1983, was announced on 5 June. Technical concerns were raised, especially in the CBD area, of ghosting issues. On 17 June, SBCText began its trial run, from 3pm to 9pm.

On 1 August 1983, the service launched. The new service saw mixed reactions, with Oskar von Kretschmann having a favourable viewpoint, following the introduction of the service at the Hilton International Hotel, but bankers and stock brokers saw a negative review, as the service was catering more to "the home market" and that the information was a few hours out-of-date. By September, further complaints had included lack of instant information in general (compared to similar services in Hong Kong) and limited financial information, but other services were praised. Some hotels didn't adopt the system upon its launch due to financial constraints.

Due to "popular demand from businessmen", SBC announced that the service would start an hour earlier (at 6am) effective 1 February 1984.

By October 1984, SBC announced plans to expand the service, whose user base has risen from 3,000 at the time of launch the previous year to 25,000. Still, this represented 5% of television sets in Singapore. The number of pages has increased from 100 to 300, enhancing information in certain sections.

The bus guide was removed in 1986 due to limited usage.

The service was renamed INtv on 18 January 1993. The simulcast on SBC 8 was not broadcast due to the technical update being carried that day. The new name also introduced the Newsreel function for news updates and Fastext shortcuts. The revamped service came on the same day Singapore Telecom launched the similar Teleview, whose staff was unaware of the SBCText rebrand. SBC said that it did not compete with Teleview, claiming that both services were different from each other. Its service was halted temporarily on 10 December 1993 after the INtv data lines were wrongly cut. Most services were restored by the end of the day. A PC version, Networked INtv, developed by the Network Technology Research Centre of Nanyang Technical University, was publicly released in January 1994.

It was later expanded to Channel News Asia when the channel was launched on 1 March 1999. From late September 2001, the service became available 24/7.

Teletext Classifieds was shut down on 1 September 2012.

On 3 September 2013, MediaCorp announced that the service will be discontinued from 30th of that month due to “declining usage”.

Content

Teletext was provided on three MediaCorp channels, with each channel specialising in specific types of information. Teletext on Channel 5 specialised in entertainment and lifestyle information, Classifieds on Channel 8 and business information on Channel News Asia.

Teletext Online

When the service was still online, the Teletext versions of all three channels were available for browsing via the Internet and features a nearly up-to-date version of the Teletext shown on television (delays might be up to 10 minutes). As with the Teletext on television, this service is now discontinued.

References

External links

Teletext Online

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Teletext
Teletext
Defunct mass media in Singapore
1983 establishments in Singapore
2013 disestablishments in Singapore