II: Creating a market for Prestel

Abstract

For pt.I see ibid., vol.17, no.3, p.26-27, 30-2 (1980). Many interdependent problems are being tackled to create a favorable market for the British Prestel viewdata system. The United Kingdom has two contrasting traditions in the control of information media. On the one hand, there is the open market tradition of newspaper, magazine, and book publishing. On the other hand, there is the tradition in radio and television of control by government-appointed public bodies (the British Broadcasting Corp. and the Independent Broadcasting Authority). These bodies concern themselves with the content of the transmissions. For this reason, and because of the limited capacity of the radio frequency spectrum, broadcast radio and television cannot offer an open market in the provision and consumption of information. To create an efficient market, a number of conditions should be met: there should be a sound legal basis for transactions; information buyers and sellers should have easy access to the data bank; sellers should not be restricted in defining their product nor in setting prices; buyers and sellers should be able to determine the amount of information to be sold; and, rewards for the seller and credit for the buyer should be ensured.