Teletext News

August 29, 2026

JUST IN: 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 VirtextVirText. 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

NEW: 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, 19911991. To reiterate, various sources have reported that ExtraVision was shut down in 19881988, 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

BREAKING: CBS ExtraVision did notdid 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.

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.

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 1985mid 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 diddid 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.