n a few hundred searchable teletext pages, and some phone-in TV shows. In the efforts to create i-TV, numerous applications and technologies have been tried, with companies attracted by the possibilities of each new generation of technology, and responding to the continuous pressure to develop new products, be they technologies, services or program in order to maintain their share of consumer spending. The explosion of the Internet and Web is a new pole of attraction for interactive television developers that seems to solve many of the problems and uncertainties of earlier systems: all of a sudden the technologies, content, users and uses of interactive services are there and proving very successful, all that needs to be done it integrate them into television. For the analyst of new innovations in television, three issues arise as companies are attracted to the Internet and the Web as a solution to interactive television. 1. Instead of being controlled by a small number of corporate players, the technology and service of the Web and Internet are in the public domain, and changing fast. The innovation environment is diverse, heterogeneous, and involves a multitude of companies and most importantly users in shaping the technology and services, which makes management of innovation more complex and give the market a much stronger voice. 2. There is major uncertainty over the relevance of Web-style interactivity to the use of television. Many commentators believe that content and services on the Internet or designed for the PC terminal may not be relevant for many users of the television, while others bet on the explosion of e-commerce through TV Web terminals. 3. The television is no longer the only window for interactive services to the home. The PC is an increasingly common alternative, and is a more flexible and open platform or interactive services. The cheap web set-top box may restrict innovation and fix service and uses in a way that...