±±¾©Èü³µpk10

The move follows a trial of interactive advertising formats in December on flagship channel UK Gold, which saw companies including Microsoft's game console Xbox, holiday operator Butlins, financial services company First Direct and car marque Nissan run executions on the channel.

Other UKTV channels include homes and gardening offering UK Style, music and comedy channel PlayUK, UK Food and UK Horizons.

"The roll-out of interactive advertising was always part of our plan and is a significant move for us,

said David Dorans, general manager and director of new media at UKTV.

"Many firms want to include interactivity in their ads, but few broadcasters can support this requirement. This service will be as useful for audiences as it will be for advertisers."

The interactive service is being run using software from Di3, which is owned by iTV services start-up Digital Interactive Television Group (DITG). Di3's clients include Abbey National, Thomson Holidays and BSkyB, for whom it developed an interactive fantasy football game called Super Sky Manager.

DITG was founded by Peter Wilkinson, one of the founders of ISP Freeserve, and counts industry players such as Sportal.com's former chief executive Neil MacDonald and Peter Cavanagh, an ex-general manager from BTopenworld, as employees.