from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
Network News Transfer Protocol
(NNTP) A {protocol} defined in {RFC} 977 for the distribution,
inquiry, retrieval and posting of {Usenet} {news} articles
over the {Internet}. It is designed to be used between a
{news reader} {client} such as {nn} or {GNUS} and a news
{server}. It is normally used on a connection to {TCP} {port}
119 on the news {server}. NNTP is a simple {ASCII} text
protocol so even if you don't have a news reader program, you
can just connect to the server using {telnet}:
telnet news 119
where news is the name of your server
(e.g. news.doc.ic.ac.uk). Typing HELP will give a list of
other commands.