This article compares videotext in France and the United States, the two advanced industrialized countries where videotext was the most and least successful, respectively, in order to demonstrate how videotext as a techno-political project foreshadows the explosive growth of the Internet as the dominant global communications platform. It draws upon the theory of network effects, in combination with a comparative analysis of both the institutional settings for research and development and political discourse, to explain how the interaction between state, market, and culture shaped network development and policy outcomes. Data are drawn primarily from official policy documents and trade journals from the era.