Former BBC director general Greg Dyke says that interactivity is the latest television technology to go mainstream.

“Every so often on television,” he writes in the Independent, “something suddenly goes from being a minority activity to being mainstream. The latest television service suddenly to go mainstream is the interactive red button on digital television.”

With reference to the “big breakthrough” with the interactive Olympics coverage, which attracted nearly 10 million users, he says that given the right offerings, the public appetite is enormous.

He concludes that true television interactivity will only come with on demand services, such as those he says that BT is about to pioneer.