Television system for the interactive distribution of selectable video presentations

A method for selectively distributing video presentations via a television network from a central location to individual remote terminals, comprising the steps of: initiating a telephone call from one of said remote terminals to establish a telephone line connection with said central location; upon establishing said connection, transmitting a transmission path identification from said terminal to the central location by means of the telephone line connection, said transmission path identification identifying a particular transmission path in said network for transmitting video information from said central location to the remote terminal; transmitting from said remote terminal to said central location, via said telephone line connection, a selection for a particular video presentation; retrieving video data related to the selected presentation at said central location, encoding the video data with an address associated with the terminal and with said transmission path identification; and transmitting the encoded data from the central location to the remote terminal over said particular transmission path. The invention also relates to a system to implement the method.