NBC Teletext
{{Short description|American teletext service}}
{{Infobox online service|name=NBC Teletext|title=NBC Teletext|logo=|logo_size=|logo_alt=|logo caption=|image=|image_size=|image_alt=|caption=|developer=NBC|generation=|type=Teletext|launched=1983|discontinued=1985|version=|version release date=|preview version=|preview version release date=|updated=|platform=NABTS|operating system=|status=Discontinued|members=|website=}}
NBC Teletext was a teletext service provided by the American TV network NBC from 1981 to 1985, based on the NABTS standard.{{Cite web |title=Portfolio 1981-89: Teletext |url=http://www.jcvtcs.com/portfolio/nbc-teletext.html |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=The Communication Studio}}{{Cite web |last=Ellers |first=Ed |title=TELETEXT GALLERY - TELETEXT AROUND THE WORLD - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA |url=http://teletext.mb21.co.uk/gallery/world/usa/index.shtml |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=The Teletext Museum}}{{Cite book |last=Graziplene |first=Leonard R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fZW_VCjjn8EC&dq=NBC+Teletext&pg=PA152 |title=Teletext: Its Promise and Demise |date=2000 |publisher=Lehigh University Press |isbn=978-0-934223-64-5 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Technology |first=United States Congress House Committee on Science and Technology Subcommittee on Science, Research, and |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h_kEbqTWTjgC&dq=NBC+Teletext&pg=PA38 |title=Developing Technologies for Television Captioning: Benefits for the Hearing Impaired : Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Technology of the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninety-eighth Congress, First Session, November 9, 1983 |date=1984 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |language=en}}
Initial trials started in Los Angeles in 1981.{{Cite web |last=Gingras |first=Richard |title=Broadcast Teletext, 1980 |url=http://www.richardgingras.com/background/products/teletext/ |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=www.richardgingras.com}} Transmissions started as a regular service on May 16, 1983{{Cite news |last=Watson |first=Barbara |date=September 1983 |title=NBC offers teletext |pages=18 |work=RCA Engineer |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/ARCHIVE-RCA/RCA-Engineer/RCA-Engineer-1983-09-10.pdf}} after FCC approval,{{Cite news |last=Renner-Smith |first=Susan |date=September 1984 |title=Teletext decoder for network-TV "magazine" |pages=40 |work=Popular Science |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BMgQSOX5PfQC&dq=NBC+Teletext+-wiki&pg=PA38}}{{Cite news |last=Hoard |first=Bruce |date=April 25, 1983 |title=FCC Authorizes Teletext Broadcasting |pages=71 |work=Computerworld |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Of5OA6T_6UIC&dq=NBC+Teletext&pg=RA2-PA71}}{{Cite news |last=Astle |first=B. |date=September 1983 |title=Teletext standards in North America |pages=15–25 |work=RCA Engineer |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/ARCHIVE-RCA/RCA-Engineer/RCA-Engineer-1983-09-10.pdf}} in parallel with CBS similar ExtraVision{{Cite web |last=Carlson |first=David |date=2009 |title=ExtraVision |url=http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/carlson/history/extravision.htm |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=David Carlson's Virtual World}} service.
Initially, the NBC Teletext was composed of a 50-page magazine, with the index page listing the following topics: Newsfront, Weather, Sports, Money, People, Your Body, Living, Your Stars, On the Soaps, Fun & Games, Kid's Korner, Partners, Credits. Graphics were reasonably detailed, allowing a detailed rendition of weather maps or movie posters.
Since teletext provides real-time updates, it was expected that the service would attract advertisers like airlines, stores or businesses interested in constantly updating their rates and schedules.{{Cite news |last=SHAW |first=SYDNEY |date=May 2, 1984 |title=Teletext, a new service that displays 'pages' of information... |work=United Press International, Inc. |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/05/02/Teletext-a-new-service-that-displays-pages-of-information/9231452318400/}} As there were no available standalone consumer decoders on the market, it was hoped that by launching the system manufacturers would soon built teletext capability into all television sets.
Demonstrations of the system were performed at the 1983 National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, the Organization of Iberian-American Broadcasters (OTI) in Mexico City, and the International Television Symposium and Technical Exhibition in Montreux.{{Cite web |last=Vaughan |first=John |date=2019-01-13 |title=TV In-Channel Magazine NBC Teletext |url=https://jcvtcsportfolio.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/1983-nbc-teletext/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=John Vaughan - my Portfolio |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Dixon |first=Douglas |date=July 1989 |title=Life before the chips: simulating digital video interactive technology |journal=Communications of the ACM |language=en |volume=32 |issue=7 |pages=824–831 |doi=10.1145/65445.65449 |s2cid=17999029 |issn=0001-0782|doi-access=free }} Special content was developed for these demonstrations.
In 1984 projections, NBC expected the teletext service to be profitable by 1987 and reach 10 percent of US homes by 1990.
These expectations were not met, and the system was shut down in January 1985.{{Cite book |last=Gillies |first=Donald |url=https://cjc.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.22230/cjc.1990v15n2a549?download=true |title=Technological Determinism In Canadian Telecommunications: Telidon Technology, Industry and Government |publisher=Ryerson Polytechnical Institute |year=1989 |pages=6|doi=10.22230/cjc.1990v15n2a549 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }}{{Cite book |last=Downey |first=Gregory J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-8bPkkVYuOAC&dq=ExtraVision+CBS+teletext+1988+-wiki&pg=PA224 |title=Closed Captioning: Subtitling, Stenography, and the Digital Convergence of Text with Television |date=2008-02-25 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-8710-9 |pages=224 |language=en}}