Word: minitel
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...revamped system is only part of the electronic wizardry on display at France Telecom. More than 5.5 million people have Minitel videotex terminals. The terminals, which are free, provide electronic access to services like home banking and do-it-yourself plane and train reservations...
...France will have nearly 17,000 miles of fiber-optic cable for transmitting anything from cable television to videophone signals. Three years later, France Telecom plans to begin installing video-phones in homes. The decision to go heavily into videophones is a gamble along the lines of the Minitel giveaway, which cost the treasury more than $1 billion. But France is well positioned to be a major player in tomorrow's telecommunications market. It has already signed contracts with Mexico, Argentina and Britain...
...where most of the millions of personal- computer owners have yet to use their machines for telecommunications. "The American market is potentially enormous," says Jean-Louis Fourtanier, whose Paris-based CTL Telematique has formed a partnership with Baseline, a New York City data service, to provide a selection of Minitel offerings in the U.S. Earlier this month, Baseline hooked up a 64-channel telephone link to France that for $10 an hour will permit stateside subscribers to tap into news reports from Liberation and feature stories from the magazine L'Evenement du Jeudi. Says Fourtanier: "Once operations begin, they could...
...however, Minitel will face problems considerably different from those in France, where a state-owned monopoly set standards, handled billing and gave away thousands of free terminals to get the ball rolling. For one thing, American subscribers will initially see on their screens stories, lists and instructions written only in French (English text will be provided later). Then, too, they will have to pay $650 for a Minitel terminal or rent one for $35 a month. For those subscribers who already own personal computers, Baseline will provide the necessary software for the IBM PC (free) and the Macintosh...
...Bank, BankAmerica and Time Inc., are also exploring the videotext field. Two other efforts have ended in failure: last spring the Times Mirror and Knight-Ridder newspaper chains shut down a pair of failing videotext projects, for a combined loss of more than $80 million. "The odds are against Minitel," says James Holly, director of Times Mirror's electronic information services. "U.S. consumers are already overwhelmed by choices. Minitel would only add to the clutter." It appears that Americans are not about to join the Mayaux family anytime soon...