In what sounds just the kind of new thing that UK Trade & Industry Secretary Lord Young had in mind for his Personal Communications Network revolution, Japan has come up with a new application for the teletext system of encoding data onto the blanking lines in the television signal raster – broadcast facsimile. The aim of the concept, called multiplexed facsimile in Japan, is to broadcast specific media – such as a tailored newspaper – to facsimile subscribers who have requested it. Specially adapted facsimile machines to receive the broadcast data will be required, and Sanyo Electric Co, Sharp Corp and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co all have prototypes of facsimile receivers in the hope that the new concept will create a major new fireside market for fax machines now that the busi ness market is approaching saturat ion. But according to Newsbytes, the television stations say they will need convincing that there is a genuine market for the new serv ice before they go ahead and offer it: teletext has been less success ful in Japan than they had hoped.
