Not yet they’re not. (beyond state and potentially gender/age range depending on device)
This episode aired on the ABC for Kids block in the 2000s
Just over 14 years ago, then-Sports Tonight and Ten News Sydney sports presenter Brad McEwan suffered a patella tendon injury while training ahead of an AFL celebrity match he was supposed to take place in prior to the Sydney Swans vs Fremantle match at the SCG.
Courtesy: Channel 10
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Before the internet, Teletext (or Austext) was a great service providing news and information from Australia and overseas. I can still remember browsing through Brashs catalogues in the early 1990s looking for TVs with Teletext decoders.
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A lot of TVs back then didn’t have Teletext… I always thought it was essential service, as along with captions, it was a way of getting information out immediately, which at the time could only be done via TV news updates or radio.
I don’t think teletext ever reached the point of being well used here – apart from the use of closed captions. It was popular in the UK AFAIK but never really had much impact here.
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We used to read Austext most morning when I’d stay with the grandparents (their TV had teletext whereas our mid-80s job didn’t). They had some brief news stories and even a joke page from memory.
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Ah yes, I had forgotten about the joke page!
Full of Dad jokes, they were never very good.
I also liked comparing the Channel 7 program guides for the 5 mainland capital markets and seeing the variations, particularly during the VFL/AFL season. I don’t think they ever listed any other channels at all?
A precursor to the ones we have now whereby you can look up guides for any channel anywhere usually for a week in advance. Back then the only other option was to go to a library and browse through interstate newspapers, which I did from time to time.
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Austext also had program guides for Nine, Ten, ABC and SBS for the five mainland capital markets.
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Thanks, that might have been later on, I’m sure it was only Channel 7 to start with as they were the ones carrying the Austext service in metro areas.
I also remember it was sometimes difficult accessing Austext on ATN-7 from Newcastle as you needed a good signal for it to decode properly. When it was a bit weaker, some characters would be missing or symbols would appear when they shouldn’t etc.
Seventel from 1982
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I don’t recall it being known as SevenTel and thought it was originally known as SevenText. Was it known by different names in different markets across the country?
I remember scrolling through the greetings messages from time to time as a kid. Had all the TAB page numbers memorised back when I worked in a betting outlet 30 years ago, also. I still get annoyed when I walk into a venue and see the TAB text screens on the wrong pages or they haven’t set them up properly for the main race meetings.
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I always wanted to have a TV with Teletext but when I finally got one it was only a few months before it got decommissioned 
Was pretty cool though for the news and weather pages as well as the other things mentioned and for an on demand type news glance since phones and the internet weren’t really around.
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Capital 7 used their teletext as a test pattern overnight.
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Them 80’s computer graphics.
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Sometimes simple is best.
Those 80s graphics are easier to read and follow a lot of what we see today.
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The first computer i played on was the Commodore 64 so it’s great to see those simple graphics again.
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I used Seven’s one in its final years, although there was not nearly as much info as they had back in the 80s/90s.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/ChrZ6GBvUb5/
Flashback to 1971, featuring a tram side advert for Channel 0: “there’s only one O in Melbourne”
Instagram: oldvintagemelbourne
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