Interactive TV looks set to revolutionise the way we use our television.

Digital Media Manager HOWARD DAVIS looks at what iTV (with a little i) will mean to Joe Public.

The internet is coming to a TV near you.

With the advent of Digital TV, companies can now broadcast vast amounts of information to your TV and the three main platforms - cable, terrestrial digital and satellite - are all vying for a place in the ever-changing digital future.

The cable and satellite versions of iTV (interactive TV as opposed to Independent TV) only offer "walled gardens" - a specific selection of sites that have made deals with the iTV companies so that users can only view their content. ONdigital (the terrestrial version) offers complete access.

The pros and cons are immediately apparent. Walled gardens control what the user views, allowing both the iTV provider and the sites available to monopolise on their selective availability. While this may not offer the user much variety, it does ensure the quality of service the user gets.

Consider the issue of navigation - the way a user moves from page to page within a site. Web sites will only work on iTV if they have been repurporsed specifically for the TV. The user is no longer sat in front of a PC, but at the other end of the room, so text will need to be larger, navigation much more intuitive. Browsers and other applications will not impact upon iTV. Thus a walled garden will ensure that users can browse onto sites specifically set up for the TV.

That said, repurposing content should not be that problematic once a system is in place. ntl: (the cable provider, who bought out Cable and Wireless at the end of last year) intend to remove the walled garden in the future. Sky's Open... have no such plans at the moment.

But as usual, what is really getting companies salivating is the whole retailing through TV issue. With the internet you physically have to log on and search. With the TV, users could browse and buy during adverts. Although iTV will take some time to catch on, this will most probably move in line with the quality and quantity of the service provided.

Domino's Pizza and Woolworths were two of the first entrants into the fray, offering services via Open... and have both reported promising returns. Supermarkets, such as Iceland and Somerfield have both made forays into the market and very soon, like the Internet promised but didn't really deliver, you may never need to leave your house again.

Advertisers will also have to change their approach to advertising. With iTV ads will have to much more interactive to compete. On the more fun side of things, large bandwidth to your TV will allow users the play games in real time. The success of Big Brother has shown that the nation wants to be involved in TV from its own sofa, and what better way than through games.

The only concrete plans at the moment are for "fun" games, but as band width expands and the iTV platforms take hold, the opportunities will increase.

Game shows could take place across the entire nation, although Brucie wouldn't be able to shout "Come on Down!" to Maureen in Inverness.

Whatever the drawbacks, iTV is here to stay, and once the fervour over shopping through your TV has died down, the outlook seems bright for the user. As long as at least some companies realise that iTV is not the Internet - it is not for information, more info-tainment.