{{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.<ref name=":0">{{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}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

Initial trials started in Los Angeles in 1981.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Transmissions started as a regular service on May 16, 1983<ref name=":9">{{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}}</ref> after FCC approval,<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{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}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{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}}</ref> in parallel with CBS similar ''ExtraVision<ref name=":13">{{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}}</ref>'' 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.<ref name=":10" /> Graphics were reasonably detailed, allowing a detailed rendition of weather maps or movie posters.<ref name=":10" />

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.<ref name=":11">{{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/}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":11" />

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{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 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=":11" />

These expectations were not met, and the system was shut down in January 1985.<ref>{{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=12 July 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

{{Teletext}} Category:Teletext Category:NBC Category:1981 establishments in California Category:1983 establishments in the United States Category:1985 disestablishments in the United States Category:Products introduced in 1983 Category:Products and services discontinued in 1985