Woodward said that the Government takes the spate of recent
mistakes and breaches of regulators' codes "very seriously", and
that it would ban the use of the numbers for TV quizzes if the
industry and regulators could not effect change.
"In the same way the advertising of children's junk food was
banned, we would be prepared to do the same here, though of course
I would much rather that it didn't come to that and that the
broadcasters got their own house in order," Woodward said,
addressing the Broadcasting Press Guild.
Recent premium rate scandals have involved votes for programmes
going uncounted, potential participants being encouraged to call
expensive phone lines when finalists had been chosen and they had
no chance of winning, and a child visiting a television studio
pretending to be a winning telephone contestant.
Quizzes and premium rate phone-ins, which can cost as much as
£1.80 to call, are regulated by overall media regulator Ofcom and
premium rate phone line regulator ICSTIS (Independent Committee for
the Supervision of Standards of the Telephone Information
Services).
In response to the scandals, ICSTIS has changed its Code of
Practice to put stricter obligations on TV companies using premium
rate lines. Callers to programmes must now be told how many others
are calling the programme so that they can assess their chances of
getting on air to win prizes.
Callers must also be told over the phone each time their
spending reaches £10 in one day, and on-air announcers must remind
viewers of the cost of calling at 10 minute intervals.
“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 last week when the changes took effect.
"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.”
Premium rate lines have become a vital lifeline for broadcasters
who have faced falling advertising income in recent years. ITV has
cancelled its ITV Play station, which was devoted to call in shows,
despite the fact that it earned £26 million in its last six
months.
The quizzes ran into trouble, though, when it emerged that
callers to Channel 4's Richard and Judy Show were being
encouraged to call £1 a minute phone lines even after finalists –
the only people in with a chance of winning – had been chosen.
A rash of revelations followed, involving many of television's
most popular programmes. X Factor, Dancing on Ice, I'm A
Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night
Takeaway and GMTV all discovered discrepancies or errors in their
premium rate phone lines.
