Australia - Broadcasting - Teletext and Captioning

Synopsis

This report was archived in March 2006 and has not been updated. Until the breakthrough of the Internet in the mid-1990s, teletext had been the most successful value-added service in Australia. But it needs further growth to reach its real potential by entering into interactive TV. The teletext signal could be used for interactive purposes. The Seven Network launched a national teletext service called Austext. Since the mid-1990’s, Austext has been available to 96% of the television population in Australia. The teletext technology is also used for captioning, providing access to television for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The next major development in this area will be datacasting, eventually replacing and extending the range of services in this field.