Synchronous updating of dynamic interactive applications

An automation server (108) interfaces with broadcast scheduling systems of various types to synchronize interactive applications such as television shows and commercials so as to maintain the appropriate interactive application for whatever broadcast program is airing. This allows for television shows to have an interactive application displayed while the television show in on. The automation server (108) includes multiple channel interfaces, each having a translator which translates native control signals from the scheduling system into a fixed set of atomic commands which represent the behavior of a broadcast program and an event manager with transmits commands to a broadcast server (110) directly manages the interactive applications by transmitting code, data, and commands to broadcast receivers (120) that controls the execution of the interactive applications in response to the event manager's commands.