A new set of rules came into effect this week governing how the
expensive television quiz shows can operate. Premium rate phone
regulator ICSTIS (Independent Committee for the Supervision of
Standards of the Telephone Information Services) has changed its
Code of Practice to allay recent fears that viewers are being
exploited.
ICSTIS said that it wanted viewers to have a better idea of
their chances of getting on air, and therefore winning prizes, so
has ordered companies to have a permanent on screen display of how
many people have called the service in the last 10 minutes.
"The chances of acceptance or rejection of an attempt by a
viewer to get beyond the first stage must be shown on-screen in
near real-time," said the new rules. "This will be achieved as a
minimum by a prominent permanently visible stand-alone display
(whether static, crawling or scrolling) showing the total number of
entries (paid and free) to the service in the preceding 15-minute
period. This must be updated at no more than 10-minute
intervals."
Operators of quiz call shows must also now include voice-overs
in their programming reading out the price of calls at 10 minute
intervals. Operators must also make sure that callers are warned
when they spend £10 in a single day on the services, even if that
is over the course of a number of calls.
“We believe these new measures, which are designed to address
the concerns that have been raised recently, will go a long way to
restoring consumer trust in this form of TV quiz," said ICSTIS
chief executive George Kidd. "We have worked closely with Ofcom,
broadcasters, programme makers and telephone companies, who have
all been supportive in making sure that the changes could be
introduced as soon as possible.”
The changes form part of ICSTIS's new Statement of Expectation
for Call TV Quiz Services. ICSTIS said that the changes reflected
concerns expressed in January by MPs on the Culture, Media and
Sport Select Committee.
Premium rate television quizzes have been mired in controversy
in recent weeks surrounding quizzes in a number of high profile
mainstream television programmes. Competitions have been audited
and some operators fired by stations or production companies for
allowing presenters to advertise the quiz when those to go on air
and win prizes had already been chosen. Others have miscounted or
mislaid votes.
