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This thesis describes the phenomena of interactive television, focusing on the development of this technology in the United Kingdom which is considered the country with the largest development of this technology. The thesis starts by defining interactive television as such, dividing it into three main categories. Aside of that a short overview of the evolution of television broadcasting in the United Kingdom is presented, and the term Convergence is explained as it is a crucial one for many of the interactive applications. The second part consists of a case study of evolution of interactive television in the United Kingdom. As it tries to answer the main research question - which technological phases must have happened in the transition from linear to interactive television - the thesis divides interactive television into five main phases. The first phase occurs in the analogue broadcasting era, with Teletext as the first instance of "on demand", and first instance of convergence by using telephone. The second phase starts around 1998 with the start of digitalisation. The new technology allows the providers to launch several new forms of interactivity, such as the walled garden, first applications and others. The third phase, starting around 2002 can be seen as the acceptance of interactivity as a...