Editing Prestel (section)

==History==
===Invention and development===
In 1970, [[Samuel Fedida]], a [[Engineering research|research engineer]] who had worked at [[English Electric]] and a US [[consultant|consultancy]] company, joined the [[BT Group#Post Office Telecommunications|Post Office]] as head of the Computer Applications Research Division. Within a year, he had completed the initial design of a [[viewdata]] system (the generic term in use at the time) for the general public: it would comprise information stored on a central computer accessed over the public [[telephone network|phone network]] using modified televisions as terminals. By early 1973, the Post Office had decided to develop an experimental system, and was working with the [[BBC]], the [[Independent Broadcasting Authority]], and [[standards organization|standards organisations]] to develop compatible standards for [[teletext]] and viewdata. During 1974, it decided to commercialise the viewdata concept.<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|107{{ndash}}109}}

===Pilot trial===
The first public demonstration of [[viewdata]] took place in London in 1975 during Eurocomp, the European Computing Conference on Communications Networks,<ref name=EurocompTimes>
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=Why the Post Office is so excited by its plans for a TV screen information service
|first=Kenneth
|last=Owen
|department=Business news
|date=26 September 1975
|page=23
|issue=59511
|column=4
|url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1975-09-26/23/4.html
|quote=Earlier this week the proposed new service was publicly demonstrated for the first time at ... Eurocomp ... at Heathrow. Yesterday the philosophy behind Viewdata was described at the conference by Samuel Fedida [...].
}}</ref> where Fedida presented a paper on the technology and the potential appeal, as the Post Office saw it, of a public interactive information service.<ref name=FedidaEurocomp>
{{
cite book
|url=https://archive.org/details/communicationsne0000euro/
|title=Communications Networks: Papers presented at the European Computing Conference on Communications Networks (Eurocomp){{snd}}London, September 1975
|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/communicationsne0000euro/page/260/mode/2up
|chapter=Viewdata: an interactive information service for the general public
|pages=261{{ndash}}282
|first=Samuel
|last=Fedida
|publisher=Online Conferences Ltd
|location=[[Uxbridge]]
|date=1975
|isbn=978-0-903-79605-7
|oclc=2006258
|via=Internet Archive
|url-access=registration
|access-date=28 October 2024
|quote=The concept of Viewdata, a computer-based information medium and service, suitable for non-computer users, is explained by reference to the 'total cost-effectiveness' of computer-based information systems. The means of implementing such a system includes the design of a low-cost, yet of pleasing appearance, rugged and reliable terminal connected to the telephone system, together with its associated keypads, a distributed but interconnected computer system giving access to internal and external databases, a 'natural' protocol for information retrieval requiring no training whatsoever for its effective use and a software structure designed to maximise throughput and hence minimise costs.
|quote-page=261
}}
</ref>

Further demonstrations followed, and based on the favourable reactions of TV manufacturers and potential providers of information and services, the Post Office decided to run a pilot trial.<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|110}} It also agreed with potential information providers (IPs) that it would not select IPs or exert editorial control over what they put on the system.<ref name=Reid-1981>
{{
cite book
|editor-first=Rex
|editor-last=Winsbury
|editor-link=Rex Winsbury
|title=Viewdata in Action : a Comparative Study of Prestel
|date=1981
|publisher=[[McGraw-Hill]]
|location=London
|first=Alex
|last=Reid
|chapter=Prestel philosophy and practice
|pages=13{{ndash}}28
|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/viewdatainaction0000unse/page/12/mode/2up
|quote-page=16
|quote=[W]e plumped firmly for the 'common carrier' approach. We rent space in our Prestel computers to anyone who can pay the storage charges. The information providers may choose whether to charge the users to look at their information, and if so, how much; and information providers may put up on their pages whatever information they wish, subject only to the law.
|isbn=978-0-070-84548-0
|oclc=715473323
|url=https://archive.org/details/viewdatainaction0000unse
|url-access=registration
|access-date=5 October 2024
}}</ref>

The two-year pilot service began in January 1976.<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|111}} By mid-1977, IPs included the [[Which?|Consumers' Association]], the British Farm Produce Council, [[British Rail]], [[London Transport Executive (GLC)|London Transport]], the [[Open University]], the [[London Stock Exchange]], the [[Institute for Scientific Information]], and [[Girobank|National Giro]].<ref name=PilotTrialTimes>
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=Dial-a-fact television becoming reality
|department=Telecommunications
|date=26 May 1977
|page=17
|issue=60013
|column=1
|url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/page/1977-05-26/17.html
}}</ref>{{rp|cols 3{{ndash}}4}} Interviewed by ''[[The Times]]'', Fedida was quoted as saying that the [[BT Group#Post Office Telecommunications|Post Office]] saw viewdata playing several roles: as a "centralised information source", an "intelligent interface" to specialised scientific and technical data, a "communication machine" for passing messages, a personal information store, a new information distribution medium, a "channel for education in the home", and as providing an "advanced calculator service".<ref name=PilotTrialTimes />{{rp|cols 2{{ndash}}3}}

===Test service===
After some delay,<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|113}}<ref name=Large-Oct1978>
{{
cite news
|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]
|date=3 October 1978
|title=Prestel's passing problems
|first=Peter
|last=Large
|page=19
|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/186049881 
|id={{ProQuest|186049881}}
}}</ref> the [[BT Group#Post Office Telecommunications|Post Office]] launched a test service of Prestel, as it was now called,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|name=Name}} in October 1978. At the end of December, there were 95,500 information pages, growing at a rate of 3,500 per week,  and just over 300 users, increasing by 30{{ndash}}50 per week.<ref name=Williams1979 />{{rp|56}}

===Commercial launch===
{{see also|#Information providers}}
In March 1979, the Post Office opened a limited "London Residential Service" for subscribers in the capital.<ref name=StokesViewdataBook />{{rp|22{{ndash}}23}} The full commercial service launched in September 1979;<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|115}} the director of Prestel stated that there were over 130,000 pages in the database and 1363 "sets" connected to the system at the start of that month.<ref name=Reid-Sept79Gdn>
{{
cite news
|newspaper=[[The Guardian|Guardian]]
|title=Prestel develops the world's biggest system
|date=13 September 1984
|pages=22{{ndash}}23
|first=Alex
|last=Reid
|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/186086404/
|url-access=subscription
}}</ref>{{rp|23 col 4}}

By February 1980, there were 131 IPs and 116 sub-IPs. The Post Office categorised the IPs as follows: national and local newspaper groups; magazine and other publishing groups; central government departments, and other agencies (such as the [[VisitBritain|British Tourist Authority]] and the [[British Library]]); [[Nationalization|nationalised]] industries (including [[British Airways]], [[Sealink]], and [[British Rail]]), and companies in other fields of business, such as banks and travel agencies; new companies set up to exploit the viewdata medium, and those expanding from an existing base of online services, such as [[Reuters]]; associations; software companies; and miscellaneous.<ref name=Williams-IPs />{{rp|100{{ndash}}101}}

Particularly popular were the travel-oriented nationalised industries; new companies, such as Fintel;<ref name=Fintel-formed>
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=FT and Extel form joint venture
|department=Financial news and market reports
|date=12 January 1978
|page=21
|issue=60208
|column=2
|url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1978-01-12/21/5.html
}}</ref> and the [[Which?|Consumers' Association]].<ref name=Williams-IPs>
{{
cite book
|editor-first=Rex
|editor-last=Winsbury
|editor-link=Rex Winsbury
|title=Viewdata in Action : a Comparative Study of Prestel
|date=1981
|publisher=[[McGraw-Hill]]
|location=London
|first=Ederyn 
|last=Williams
|author-link=Ederyn Williams
|chapter=Who's who on the Prestel database
|pages=99{{ndash}}106
|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/viewdatainaction0000unse/page/99/mode/2up?view=theater
|isbn=978-0-070-84548-0
|oclc=715473323
|url=https://archive.org/details/viewdatainaction0000unse
|url-access=registration
|access-date=29 October 2024
}}</ref>{{rp|102}} Overall, popular topics included games, quizzes, jokes, and horoscopes; the [[London Stock Exchange|Stock Market]], company information, and business news; travel and holiday information; national news, sports, and "What's On" locally; cars; and consumer advice.<ref name=Williams-IPs />{{rp|103}} This was reflected in advertisements for Prestel.<ref name=TimesAd1980>
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=Learn More From Your Telly. Read It
|date=24 March 1980
|issue=60583
|at=p. 3: full-page advertisement showing 21 Prestel pages.
|url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/page/1980-03-24/3.html
|quote=
}}</ref>

Writing in the winter 1980/81 issue of ''British Telecom Journal'', Prestel's public relations manager stated there were over 7,500 sets attached to the system, 170,000 frames in use, and more than 400 IPs and sub-IPs.<ref name=BTJwinter1980-81>
{{
cite journal
|journal=British Telecom Journal
|issn=0260-1532
|title=Market review for Prestel
|first=Richard
|last=Hope-Smith
|volume=1
|issue=4
|pages=8{{ndash}}9
|date=1980–1981
|oclc=8560549
<!--|url=http://www.samhallas.co.uk/repository/journals/BT_Journal/BTJ%20Vol%201%20No%204%20Winter%201980-1.pdf-->
}}</ref>{{rp|9}} By the end of 1981, according to Butler Cox, a [[management consulting|management consultancy]],<ref name=ButlerCox1982>
{{
cite web
|url=https://archivesit.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/BCF-RRBT-03-1982-Iss1.pdf
|access-date=1 November 2024
|title=Developments in Videotex
|date=March 1982
|author=Butler Cox
|publisher=Butler Cox & Partners
|location=London
|series=Butler Cox Report Series #27
|website=Archives of IT
|oclc=
}}</ref>{{rp|9}} Prestel had 2,000 residential and 11,000 business users, with 14,000 "terminals"{{sic|nolink=y}} in use. The service was within local call reach of 62% of phone subscribers in Britain. IPs numbered 153, with 593 sub-IPs. Users accessed 190,000 frames per day, and the average time on the system, for each user per day, was 9 minutes. There were 193,000 frames available, including 2,000 response frames. {{section link|#Response_frames}}

====Prestel Gateway====
March 1982 saw the launch of the Prestel Gateway service. This enabled users to connect, via the Prestel network, to external computers operated by IPs or other companies.<ref name=GatewayAslibProc>
{{
cite journal
|journal=ASLIB Proceedings
|first=Chris
|last=Horne
|title=Gateway{{snd}}an enhancement of Prestel
|volume=34
|issue=5
|date=1982
|pages=266{{ndash}}270
|doi=10.1108/eb050847
|issn=0001-253X
}}</ref> Travel agents, for example, used Gateway to connect to [[Tour operator|tour operators']] systems and make reservations.<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|153}}

====User charges====
At the launch of the commercial service in September 1979, and in addition to phone charges, users were charged 3p per minute online to Prestel from 8&nbsp;am to 6&nbsp;pm Monday to Friday, and 3p for three minutes at other times. Installing a [[British telephone socket#Sockets|phone jack-socket]] cost £13, with a quarterly rental of 50p. Business users paid an additional standing charge (i.e., a flat charge regardless of usage) of £12 per quarter.<ref name=BTstaffGuideCirca1979>
{{
cite document
|title=Prestel: A brief guide [for British Telecom staff] to British Telecom [sic] Viewdata Service
|author=Prestel Marketing Duty
|date=c. 1979
|publisher=British Telecom
|location=Bedford
|pages=6{{ndash}}7
|type=pamphlet
}}</ref>

By October 1982, the online usage charge had risen to 5p per minute (8&nbsp;am to 6&nbsp;pm Monday to Friday and also 8&nbsp;am to 1&nbsp;pm on Saturdays, free at other times), the business standing charge to £15 per quarter, residential users now paid £5 per quarter, and jack installation cost "from £15", with a 15p quarterly rental fee.<ref name=IPcharges />{{rp|2}}

===Growth===
From September 1986,<ref name=TelematicsTransition>
{{
cite book
|title=Telematics in Transition: The Development of New Interactive Services in the United Kingdom
|first1=Graham
|last1=Thomas
|first2=Ian
|last2=Miles
|date=1989
|publisher=[[Longman]]
|location=[[Harlow]]
|isbn=978-0-5820-5595-7
|oclc=22706270
}}</ref>{{rp|27}} under page *656#, Prestel's publicity department  published a "Factframe" showing, at the end of each month, the average number of terminals attached and the respective percentages in businesses and in homes; the number of frames available and the number of frame accesses per week; and the number of messages sent per week.<ref name=Factframe>An example from 1987: 
{{
cite document
|type=videotex frame 65659a
|title=Factframe to end of Oct 1987
|date=October 1987
|publisher=Prestel Publicity Department
<!--|url=https://archive.org/details/prestel-factframe-example-->
}}
</ref> Actual subscriber figures were not published; Thomas et al. (1992) suggest these were "significantly less" than the number of terminals, as "businesses were assumed to 'attach' more than one terminal", and note that British Telecom stopped publishing figures at the end of 1988.<ref name=SettingStage>
{{
cite book
|first1=Graham
|last1=Thomas
|first2=Thierry
|last2=Vedel
|first3=Volker
|last3=Schneider
|author-link3=:de:Volker Schneider (Politikwissenschaftler)
|date=1992
|editor-first1=Harry
|editor-last1=Bouwman
|editor-link1=Harry Bouwman
|editor-first2=Mads
|editor-last2=Christoffersen
|editor-link2=dk:Mads Christoffersen
|title=Relaunching Videotex
|publisher=Springer-Science+Business Media
|location=[[Dordrecht]]
|pages=15{{ndash}}30
|chapter=Chapter 2: The United Kingdom, France and Germany: Setting the Stage
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5iqCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA18
|doi=10.1007/978-94-011-2520-8_3
|isbn=978-94-011-2520-8
|oclc=7330970413
}}</ref>{{rp|18}}

In September 1982, ''[[The Times]]'' reported there were 18,000 users, of whom 3,000 were residential.<ref name=Times-stats-Sept82>
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=Prestel plans another offensive
|first=Bill
|last=Johnstone
|department=Computers and Technology
|date=6 September 1982
|page=13
|issue=61330
|column=2
|url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1982-09-06/13/7.html
}}</ref> Noting that British Telecom had originally forecast 50,000 users at this point, the report went on to outline a new approach to attracting them, quoting senior managers from British Telecom and the head of a [[joint venture]]. The plans involved the introduction of a home banking service; the marketing of a Prestel adaptor for computer terminals to the business and higher education sectors; and the launch of [[Micronet 800]], a service for microcomputer users. 

Six months later, in February 1983, the same newspaper recorded 22,400 users, of whom 15% were residential, writing that the future of Prestel "could be in doubt by 1985 if it is not approaching profitability."<ref name=Times-stats-Feb83>
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=Prestel races to attract business
|first=Bill
|last=Johnstone
|department=Business News
|date=3 February 1983
|page=16
|issue=61447
|column=2
|url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1983-02-03/16/4.html
}}</ref>

In mid-1984, the UK [[Department of Trade and Industry (United_Kingdom)|Department of Trade and Industry]] issued a booklet stating that the availability of travel information, the launch of [[Micronet 800]], and the provision nationwide of the messaging service, Mailbox, had contributed to a rise to 45,000 attached terminals by June of that year. 61% were in businesses, and 39% in homes. In that month, on average, the Prestel database contained 320,000 frames that were accessed 14.6 million times. 17 Prestel Gateways to external computers were in operation.<ref name=DTI-1984>
{{
cite book
|title=Viewdata in Retail and Distribution
|author=Department of Trade & Industry
|author-link=Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom)
|date=1984
|at="Key facts and statistics", p. 8 (unnumbered)
|publisher=IT Division, Department of Trade & Industry
|location=London
|oclc=17676964
|id=[[British Library]] shelfmark GPB-4720
}}</ref> For July, the Butler Cox [[management consulting|consultancy]] recorded 47,000 users (60% business, 40% residential), and a total of 1,200 IPs and sub-IPs.<ref name=ButlerCox1985 />{{rp|26, Fig. 1.15}}

After another year, in mid-1985, ''[[The Times]]'' stated there were 53,000 "terminals, adapted televisions, microcomputers or specially designed units" attached to Prestel, with residential users now accounting for 45% of the total. In the reporter's view, this represented "a change of fortune for [a service] deemed commercially dubious by many commentators."<ref name=Times-stats-03June85>
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=Households attracted to Prestel
|first=Bill
|last=Johnstone
|department=Home News
|date=3 June 1985
|page=3
|issue=62154
|column=2
|url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1983-02-03/16/4.html
}}</ref> The figure of 65,000 was reached at the beginning of 1986{{snd}}about a third were [[Micronet 800]] subscribers. Prestel had reportedly traded at a profit from the previous October onwards.<ref name=Times-stats-14Jan86>
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=Prestel moves into the black
|first=Matthew
|last=May
|department=Computer Horizons
|date=14 January 1986
|page=28
|issue=62344
|column=4
|quote=Last October Prestel ... announced it had begun to make a profit in its day-to-day operations for the first time in its six-year existence. Only two years ago it was being suggested ... it should be shut down as an expensive mistake.
}}</ref> Commenting in September 1986 on what it referred to as "only 70,000 users ... growing at a rate of ... a few hundred customers a week", ''[[The Times]]'' declared that Prestel "had failed to live up to expectations", comparing it unfavourably to the French [[Minitel]] videotex service and to British Telecom's own [[Telecom Gold]] electronic mail service.<ref name=Times-stats13Sept86>
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=BT aims to link Prestel with Telecom Gold
|first=Jonathan
|last=Miller
|department=Business and Finance
|date=13 September 1986
|page=22
|issue=62562
|column=3
}}</ref>

Writing in ''[[The Guardian]]'' just before Christmas 1988, [[Jack Schofield (journalist)|Jack Schofield]] reported that Prestel "had become reclusive" about user numbers, with the Factframe, "[a]fter prompting, ... finally updated this summer ... claim[ing] 90,000 users", while the figure of "only 75,000" was being quoted by the British Telecom manager responsible for the service.<ref name=SchofieldDec88>
{{
cite news
|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]
|date=22 December 1988
|title=Numbers down
|first=Jack
|last=Schofield
|author-link=Jack Schofield (journalist)
|at=p. 27, col 8
|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/186886612 
|id={{ProQuest|186886612}}
}}</ref> In January 1989, drawing on what turned out to be the final Factframe, published at the end of 1988, Schofield wrote that "After ten years, [Prestel] has yet to achieve the number of users it expected to get in its first year", quoting a figure of 95,460 terminals attached.<ref name=SchofieldJan89 /> This was the highest figure claimed during the lifetime of Prestel.<ref name=SettingStage />{{rp|18}}

===Decline===
In October 1991, British Telecom closed [[Micronet 800]], stating, in a letter to customers, that "With over 10,000 members, Micronet is easily the largest online service in the UK specialising in microcomputing. However, it is still not large enough to enable us to maintain a cost-effective service and provide the extra facilities requested by our customers."<ref name=MicronetClosure1991>
{{
cite web
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=micronetrip.pdf
|title=Micronet to close from 31st October 1991
|date=27 September 1991
|first1=Sue
|last1=Gilbody
|type=letter
|publisher=[[Tymnet#BT Tymnet, BT_North America, BTNA|BT Tymnet]]
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506132636/http://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=micronetrip.pdf
|archive-date=6 May 2012
}}</ref> Membership had decreased from a peak of around 20,000.<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|145}} ''[[The Guardian]]'' attributed this to the introduction by British Telecom of an off-peak Prestel time-charge in mid-1988, discouraging the use of Micronet's popular "[[Micronet 800#Services provided|Chatline]]" service.<ref name=BrownMicronet1991>
{{
cite news
|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]
|date=31 October 1991
|title=Reaching the end of the line
|first=Mike
|last=Brown
|at=p. 33, col 8
|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/187285975 
|id={{ProQuest|187285975}}
}}</ref> ''[[The Times]]'' agreed, and also pointed to a steep rise in subscription charges, opining that "BT's failure to provide even this committed group with an economic ... service means that Prestel is destined ... for businesses."<ref name=MayMicronet1991>
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=Hey Prestel! A disappearing act
|first=Matthew
|last=May
|department=Science and Technology
|date=3 October 1991
|page=30
|issue=64141
|column=1
}}</ref> The closure in April 1991 of Homelink, the [[online banking|home banking]] service launched in 1983 by the [[Nottingham Building Society]],<ref name=HomelinkClosureArticle>
{{
cite journal
|journal=Journal of Retail Banking
|title=Why home banking bombed in Britain
|first=Philip A.
|last=Dover
|volume=15
|issue=4
|date=Winter 1993
|pages=30{{ndash}}38
|id={{Gale|A15141702}}
|issn=0195-2064
}}</ref>{{rp|1}} also contributed to shrinking the number of Prestel subscribers.<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|146}}

During 1991, Prestel was closed to residential users.<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|146}} Towards the end of 1993, it was reported that British Telecom was planning to close Prestel altogether: according to the company, of the around 35,000 subscribers at that point, only some 2,500 used the service regularly.<ref name=ClosureLaurance>
{{
cite news
|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]
|date=13 November 1993
|title=British Telecom poised to close its loss-making Prestel service
|first=Ben
|last=Laurance
|at=p. 38, col 5
|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/187571026 
|id={{ProQuest|187571026}}
}}</ref>

===Closure===
British Telecom closed Prestel in early 1994, selling it to a [[consortium]]. It was rebranded as "New Prestel", focusing on the provision of financial data to businesses.<ref name=PrestelSaleInd /> In mid-1996, New Prestel transferred to the [[World Wide Web|Web]], becoming the [[Internet service provider]] (ISP)  "Prestel On-line"<ref name=PrestelOn-line>
{{
cite news
|newspaper=[[The Independent]]
|title=Steps one, two and three{{snd}}hey Prestel!
|first=Alan
|last=Stewart
|date=28 July 1996
|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/steps-one-two-and-three-hey-prestel-1331077.html
|access-date=14 December 2024
}}</ref><ref name="PrestelOn-lineArchive">
{{
cite web
|url=http://www.prestel.co.uk/online.htm
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970208234324/http://www.prestel.co.uk/online.htm
|archive-date=8 February 1997
|title=Prestel HotZone : Follow the Markets with Prestel On-Line!
|website=Prestel On-line Services
|access-date=14 December 2024
}}</ref>

In 1999, the financial data component of Prestel On-line was bought by the company Financial Express to become "Financial Express Prestel".<ref name=FinExpressPrestel>
{{
cite web
|url=https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/financial-express-buys-prestel-online/120097
|title=Financial Express buys Prestel Online
|date=20 October 1999
|website=[[Campaign (magazine)|Campaign UK]]
|access-date=14 December 2024
|quote=Online content supplier Financial Express has bought real-time pricing provider Prestel Online from its management team. Following the purchase, FE will change its name to Financial Express Prestel and specialise in supplying data on equities, unit trusts, investment funds and life and pensions funds.
}}</ref> The service component merged with the ISP [[Demon Internet]],<ref name=DemonPrestel>
{{
cite news
|newspaper=M2 PressWire
|title=Prestel: Demon and Prestel alliance creates new Internet force
|date=13 January 1999
|publisher=Normans Media
|id={{Gale|A53563938}}
|quote=Demon Internet and Prestel On-line today announced the alliance of the two Scottish Telecom companies which will create one of the most competitive offerings in the UK Internet Service Provider (ISP) market.
}}</ref> which ran a "Prestel Internet Service". This closed in 2002.<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|146 ft 158}}

===Analyses===
Writing in early 1979 about the [[#Test service|test service]] that had launched in October 1978, a [[BT_Group#Post_Office_Telecommunications|Post Office]] executive concluded that:{{blockquote|text= "The strengths of viewdata include its visual attractiveness, its ease of use, low cost and its wide range of applications. Its weaknesses include its small information window, unsophisticated search methods, its limited storage capacity and its lack of computer power for users. How rapidly viewdata will become established, and the exact role it will fulfil, is as yet a matter of speculation."<ref name=Williams1979>
{{
cite journal 
|first=Ederyn
|last=Williams
|author-link=Ederyn Williams 
|title=Strengths and Weaknesses of Prestel 
|journal=Computer Communications
|date=April 1979 
|volume=2 
|issue=2 
|pages=56{{ndash}}59
|doi=10.1016/0140-3664(79)90121-X
}}</ref>}}

In the aftermath of Prestel's [[#Information and services|pivot away, in the early 1980s, from a focus on the general public]] to targeting the business community, the [[profession|professions]], and microcomputing enthusiasts,<ref name=ButlerCox1985 />{{rp|25}} [[A. Michael Noll|Noll]] (1985) studied the possible reasons for Prestel's lack of take-up by households. He concluded that the following factors might have been significant: a shortage, at the beginning of the commercial service, of affordable Prestel-adapted TV sets and, later, adaptors; relatively high frame-access and time-based online charges; the large size of the [[#Database|database]], and the difficulty of searching it; and the variation in how information providers (IPs) arranged and presented their Prestel pages.<ref name=Noll-1985>
{{
cite journal
|journal=Information & Management
|title=Videotex: anatomy of a failure
|volume=9
|issue=2
|pages=99{{ndash}}109
|date=September 1985
|first=A. Michael
|last=Noll
|author-link=A. Michael Noll
|url=https://www.polyarchives.hosting.nyu.edu/files/original/2c4421f4c8f7ba4b61518599f648ebdc.pdf
|access-date=17 February 2025
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250216211636/https://www.polyarchives.hosting.nyu.edu/files/original/2c4421f4c8f7ba4b61518599f648ebdc.pdf
|archive-date=16 February 2025
|doi=10.1016/0378-7206(85)90031-X
|issn=0378-7206
|oclc=38995112
}}</ref>{{rp|99{{ndash}}100}}

[[A. Michael Noll|Noll]]  contrasted the "relative failure" of Prestel with the "success" of [[teletext]], noting that receiving the latter was free and its database much smaller.<ref name=Noll-1985 />{{rp|101{{ndash}}102}} Overall, he questioned "the [...] hypothesis that the information needs of consumers can be satisfied by a large, centralized, computerized database of general-interest information."<ref name=Noll-1985 />{{rp|105}}

After consulting a group of experts in the [[videotex]] domain, the [[information scientist]]s [[Varun Grover (information scientist)|Grover]] & Sabherwal drew conclusions (1989) that largely concurred with Noll's. In addition, they judged that government [[subsidy|subsidies]] were required to boost public interest and mass take-up.<ref name=Grover-1989>
{{
cite journal
|journal=Journal of Systems Management
|title=Poor Performance of Videotex Systems
|volume=40
|issue=6
|pages=31{{ndash}}37
|date=June 1989
|first1=Varun
|last1=Grover
|author1-link=Varun Grover (information scientist)
|first2=Rajiv
|last2=Sabherwal
|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/199811361
|id={{ProQuest|199811361}}
|issn=0022-4839
|oclc=928083662
}}</ref> This latter view was also held by [[Digital sublime#Origins of the digital sublime|Mosco]], a [[political economy|political economist]], who wrote in 1982: "[T]he British government appears to be prepared to let Prestel sink or swim on its own commercial ability {{sic|nolink=y}} ... It is too early to offer a complete assessment of Prestel. However, the direction of development is clear: the need for immediate commercial success means cutting back on earlier mass marketing efforts and an emphasis on specific business uses."<ref name=Mosco-1982>
{{
cite book
|title=Pushbutton Fantasies : critical perspectives on videotex and information technology
|first=Vincent
|last=Mosco
|date=1982
|publisher=[[Ablex Publishing|Ablex]]
|location=[[Norwood, New Jersey|Norwood]]
|isbn=978-0-893-91125-6
|oclc=8626459
}}</ref>{{rp|77}}

In a paper published shortly after Prestel had been discontinued in 1994, Case, an information scientist, examined the motivations behind the development of this and other videotex services from a [[sociology|sociological ]] perspective. In his view, "[E]xplanations of videotex  require consideration of higher-level phenomena [such] as policy, [[ideology]], belief, and vision".<ref name=Case-1994>
{{
cite journal
|journal=Journal of the American Society for Information Science
|title=The Social Shaping of Videotex: How Information Services for the Public Have Evolved.
|volume=45
|issue=7
|pages=483{{ndash}}497
|date=August 1994
|first=Donald O.
|last=Case
|issn=0002-8231
|oclc=802881625
|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/216901916
|id={{ProQuest|216901916}}
}}</ref>{{rp|495}} He identified the envisioning of videotex as a facilitator of mass participation in an emerging [[Information society#Sociological uses|information society]]<ref name=Crawford-1983>
{{
cite journal
|journal=Bulletin of the Medical Library Association
|title=The Origin and Development of a Concept: The Information Society
|first=Susan  
|last=Crawford
|date=1983
|volume=71
|issue=4
|pages=380{{ndash}}385
|pmid=6652297
|pmc=227258
|url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC227258/
|access-date=21 February 2025
}}</ref>{{snd}}a belief held and promoted by many politicians, [[futurist|futurists]], sociologists, and business leaders in the 1960s and 1970s{{snd}}as a crucial spur to the development of the technology, sustained investment, and the roll-out of services.<ref name=Case-1994 />{{rp|485{{ndash}}487}} This vision was animated, according to [[Information and communications technology|communications technology]] researchers Harmeet & Sandvig's summary (2006) of scholarly views, by the "converging agendas of myriad players ... all seeking to increase revenues in otherwise saturated markets": phone companies (increased network traffic), set and terminal manufacturers (more sales), newspapers and news agencies (additional outlets for content), and business sectors such as banks and the travel trade (looking to reduce [[transaction cost]]s).<ref name=HarmeetSandvig-2006>
{{
cite conference 
|first1=Harmeet
|last1=Sawhney 
|first2=Christian
|last2=Sandvig
|title=Approaching Yet Another New Communication Technology 
|conference=[[International Communication Association]] (ICA): 56th Annual Conference
|pages=1{{ndash}}28 
|date=20 June 2006 
|location=[[Dresden]]
|id={{EBSCOhost|dbcode=ufh|27203868}}
}} {{requires subscription}}</ref>{{rp|13{{ndash}}14}}
 
Regarding Prestel, Case summarised the problems it faced (as described by a former chief executive)<ref name=Hooper-1984>
{{
cite web
|title=Prestel, Escher, Bach: changes within changes
|publisher=[[Program on Information Resources Policy]], [[Harvard University]]
|type=incidental paper
|first=Richard
|last=Hooper
|author-link=Richard Hooper (civil servant)
|date=January 1984
|id=I-84-1
|url=http://www.pirp.harvard.edu/pubs_pdf/hooper/hooper-i84-1.pdf
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607040301/http://www.pirp.harvard.edu/pubs_pdf/hooper/hooper-i84-1.pdf
|archive-date=7 June 2008
|access-date=20 February 2025
}} Reprinted in
{{
cite book
|title=Issues in New Information Technology
|editor-first=Benjamin M.
|editor-last=Compaine
|pages=15{{ndash}}24
|date=1988
|publisher=[[Ablex Publishing|Ablex]]
|location=[[Norwood, New Jersey|Norwood]]
|isbn=978-0-893-91468-4
|oclc=243361472
}}</ref> as the lack of a trigger service,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|A key service or feature that would have attracted subscribers and kept them engaged.}} low-quality information, complicated charges, competing services, and uncoordinated marketing by IPs, [[BT Group|British Telecom]], and terminal and adaptor providers.<ref name=Case-1994 />{{rp|492}} Insufficient market research into "what sorts of information people actually use, and what delivery modes are appropriate for them" was identified by [[Public policy#Academic discipline|public policy]] researchers Thomas & Miles (1989) as a further reason why Prestel failed to live up to expectations.<ref name=TelematicsTransition />{{rp|26}}

Poor, a communications researcher, suggested (2006) that the failure of Prestel to achieve significant [[Mass market#Definition|mass-market]] take-up was linked to its "highly centralized and closed" nature.<ref name=Poor-2006>
{{
cite conference 
|first=Nathaniel
|last=Poor 
|title=When They Built the Internet and No One Came: The Failure of Videotex and the Triumph of Open Systems  
|conference=[[International Communication Association]] (ICA): 54th Annual Conference
|pages=1{{ndash}}30
|date=May 2006
|location=[[New Orleans]]
|id={{EBSCOhost|dbcode=ufh|45284295}}
}} {{requires subscription}}</ref>{{rp|1}} He cited the control over content exercised by IPs and the system operator, [[BT Group|British Telecom]],<ref name=Poor-2006 />{{rp|9}} coupled with a lack of [[wikt:connectivity#noun|connectivity]] to both non-videotex online services and other videotex services based on different [[Technical standard|technical standards]].<ref name=Poor-2006 />{{rp|23{{ndash}}24}} On standards, Poor (2004) believed that "A universal videotex standard would have been like the common gauge for railroad, or common standards for the telegraph or the telephone. Disparate systems could connect, and enjoy [[Network effect|network externalities]] due to scale."<ref name=Poor-2004>
{{cite thesis 
|first=Nathaniel 
|last=Poor 
|date=2004
|title=Democratic technologies: Openness, decentralization, and the success of information systems
|chapter=Chapter 5: Videotex: control and communication in the decade before the Internet
|pages=150{{ndash}}184
|degree=PhD
|publisher=[[University of Michigan]]
|id={{ProQuest|305181173}}
|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/305181173
|isbn=978-0-496-85092-1
|oclc=148537515
}}</ref>{{rp|181 ft 24}}