Belgian Flemish language public broadcaster VRT will pull the plug out of its teletekst service in the near future. No exact date has been set.
Reason for the end of the service, which is called Teletekst in Flanders, is the declining number of users. In 2010 VRT Teletekst drew 576,094 visitors per day, in 2014 the number declined to 123,709. For 2015 no figures are available, but the increased usage of digital reception makes a further decline plausible.
The news of the upcoming end of Teletekst was made by Flemish Minister of Media Sven Gatz, answering questions from a member of the Flemish Parliament, Bart Caron.
VRT Teletekst will continue to be used for subtitling for the hard of hearing.
In the Netherlands, public broadcaster NOS said it will continue its teletext broadcasts and there no plans to shut down the service. However, a number of regional public broadcasters including Amsterdam’s AT5 and R-TV Noord-Holland have ceased the text-based service some time ago. (Picture courtesy VRT)
