David Burke is wrong to associate interactive TV with more power for corporations, politicians and advertisers. Legal and practical safeguards protect viewers’ rights, and people will continue to select and filter the material they encounter. The heart of the new technology is communication, diversity and choice – and, if anything, the empowerment of the viewer rather than the ‘monitors’.

Political advertising is entering British homes despite legal restrictions. Parties and pressure groups can’t buy a cable TV channel, but they can set up a website on interactive television. Citizens can now engage with politics interactively, onscreen and inbox. Is this the arrival of real democracy?