System and method for linking video, services and applications in an interactive television system

An interactive viewing system having a head end in two-way communication with a plurality of viewer stations, the viewer stations having a video display operatively coupled to a controller and an input device for providing user commands to the controller, the interactive viewer system allowing a user to selectively launch at least one of a plurality of applications, the system comprising:

• a first memory located at the head end for storing a script database, the script database adapted to provide an order that video segments are to be displayed on the video display;
• and
• a second memory located at the controller for storing the script database;
• the controller adapted to transfer the script database from the first memory to the second memory and adapted to interpret the script database to determine a video segment to be displayed and to retrieve from the head end the video segment, the controller further being adapted to display the video segment on the video display and to respond to a command input through the input device to launch an application associated with the currently displayed video segment and to transfer a parameter associated with the currently displayed video segment to the launched application.