RTÉ Aertel


RTÉ Aertel Digital was an interactive service broadcast on RTÉ One and RTÉ Two in Ireland, and also available in its entirety on the Internet.

History

The teletext service began development in the mid-1980s and was formally launched on 22 June 1987. Originally called simply Aertel, it gained the RTÉ prefix along with RTÉ's other activities from September 2003. The rte.ie news service used to simply wrap Aertel's output into their web pages, and the service is also available on WAP.
A selection of RTÉ Aertel pages are broadcast in-vision on rotation overnight on RTÉ Two after normal programming, under the title Nightscreen.
In 2003, RTÉ signed a deal with SysMedia to develop a MHEG-5 based version of Aertel for use on the Sky Digital platform. To date, this project has yet to materialise into a working service. However, an MHEG-5 based Aertel has appeared on the digital terrestrial service Saorview.
In April 2018, it reported that RTE has asked the Minister for Communications for permission to reduce the Aertel service on the grounds that it had been superseded by more recent technology. For legal reasons, RTE has to get permission from the Minister to make significant changes to Aertel.
In November 2019, it was announced that Aertel would be shut down as part of cost-cutting measures at RTÉ. The RTÉ Aertel internet homepage now merely acts as a series of links or site map of the wider RTÉ website.

List of pages

RTÉ One and RTÉ Two

RTÉ Aertel Digital is currently broadcast on the Saorview service on RTÉ One, RTÉ Two HD, and RTÉ News Now. The service is the same on each channel. RTÉ have proposed providing more improvements with the service over the coming years. It is also proposed that the text service is carried on their radio services which broadcast on Saorview. RTÉ also plan to replace their test page on Channel 7 with RTÉjr/RTÉ Plus.