Memorandum submitted by You and
Yours, BBC Radio 4
WHAT IS
YOU AND
YOURS
You and Yours is BBC Radio 4's daily consumer
affairs programme and has been on air for 35 years. Shari Vahl
is a reporter for the programme and is based in Manchester.
YOU AND
YOURS INTEREST
IN QUIZ
CHANNELS
It started with one phone call in July 2005.
A woman rang You and Yours to complain that
she'd phoned a television quiz channel called The Great British
Quiz, 16 times and never been able to get through to put her answer
to a competition question, but each call had cost her 60 pence
because she'd dialled a premium rate number, and she didn't think
it was fair. At that time there were only six or seven channels
available on satellite and cable but that has grown to about 15
and some are available on terrestrial television.
WHAT THE
VIEWER SEES
The quiz channels are glitzy sparkly entertainment
with good looking presenters . Our listeners explained that a
presenter stands in front of the camera next to a puzzle displayed
on the screen. The puzzles vary in format and can be either very
simple or extremely cryptic. The presenters encourage viewers
to ring in on a premium rate line advertised at the bottom of
the screen to put their answers in the hope of winning cash prizes.
The prizes can also vary from 10s to thousands of pounds. The
viewer often hears the sound effect of a phone ringing, and then
the presenter is seen chatting to a viewer and asking for their
answer to the puzzle. If a viewer is put through to the studio
and gives the wrong answer, a graphic flashes up, usually accompanied
by a sound effect for disappointment. If the answer is right,
often bells whistles and cheering will be heard and flashing lights
seen on the screen.
More recently ladder games have become popular,
where one question is asked, for example, eight words that might
connect with the word "HEAD". Eg Head Master, Head ache,
Head room. Each answer would have a different amount of prize
money attached to it, the more difficult the answer the higher
the prize money.
WHAT THE
VIEWER KNOWS
The cost of the call is displayed on the screen,
say 75 pence, and callers are also told on the telephone line
that each call will be charged at that rate whether or not they
get through to the studio to put their answer on air.
WHAT THE
VIEWER DOESN'T
KNOW
How much it will cost them to enter the competition.
They know each call will cost 75 pence, but they don't know how
many times they will have to call to get through.
WHAT MANY
VIEWERS EXPERIENCED
Many viewers complained of making multiple phone
calls to the channels, without ever getting through. By getting
through they meant, getting through to the studio to put their
answer to the presenter. They complained that each time they rang,
and were charged for the call, they would receive a recorded message
along the lines of "welcome to xxxxx lets see if we can get
you through to the studio . . ." there would be a pause,
and sometimes a drumroll, and then "I'm sorry you haven't
got through to the studio this time, please try again— you
have been charged 75 pence for this call".
WHAT YOU
AND YOURS
DISCOVERED
After broadcasting several items on the activities
of Quiz Channels and the concerns of the viewers, one Radio 4
listener, contacted the programme stating he'd previously worked
as a telephone, answerer for one channel, Big Game TV. This channel
was available on satellite cable free to air and on Freeview.
The telephonist agreed to be interviewed bye
the programme to explain his concerns about the channel's method
of operating. He told us how the telephone answering system worked.
He explained while the viewers might think there was a bank of
answers waiting to take viewers calls, in fact there was only
one person ever answering calls for a programme. That person had
a box in front of them with two lights, when a light flashed it
meant a call was coming in. The telephonist would press the light
and speak to the caller to take their answer then on the producer's
advice the call would be put through to the studio, and the caller
allowed to guess the puzzle.
The single telephonist had a very short time,
perhaps 3 seconds to take the call or the caller would be put
back to the recorded message saying I'm sorry you haven't got
through this time please try again. Clearly if only one call was
being answered by a human being at a time and all the others were
being diverted to a cash collecting recorded message; the chances
of winning were very slim indeed.
BUT WHILE VERY
SLIM, IT
WAS STILL
POSSIBLE UNTIL
. . . . . . .
The telephonist told us that often, he would
be told by the programme producer to ignore all the incoming calls,
not to press the light at all. He was to allow all calls to be
diverted to the cash collecting recorded message, telling callers
they hadn't got through and to try again. Each of those calls
cost the viewer 75 pence. While the calls weren't being answered,
the telephonist told us, the call volumes would mount up to 150-200
calls a minute . . . . each being charged, none getting, through,
the players chances of winning were zero, but of course they didn't
know that. The telephonistwould sit reading a book for sometimes
half an hour.
Sometimes the telephonist told us, the puzzle
on screen would be quite tricky and the callers would get the
answer wrong' repeatedly, until the number of callers ringing
in would dwindle. At this point, the producers would decide to
give a clue, and the puzzle would become very easy indeed.
The telephonist gave us an example. It was a
ladder game. The word Black had to be followed by a 5 letter word
. . .
BLACK
All manner of guesses came through the telephonist
and onto the studio, but no-one got it right.
Then the producer decided to give a clue.
BLACK A R R—W
And the presenter mimed shooting a bow and arrow
into the sky.
Suddenly the call numbers shot up, as viewers
twigged to the answer . . . and at this point the telephonist
told us, he was told not to answer the phone, so no caller had
any chance of getting through to the studio to put an answer.
The telephonist was told to go and get some food.
Meanwhile, the presenter with no calls coming
onto the screen urged viewers to call, leading them to believe
they had a chance of winning, so continuing to dial (and pay)
when in fact the chance was nil.
The allegations made during You and Yours were
corroborated by two other reliable but confidential sources.
As a result of our programme, City of London
Police Fraud Squad raided Big Game's offices in Grays Inn Road.
Their inquiry is ongoing.
WHAT YOU
AND YOURS
ASKED
You and Yours asked several channels how many
callers get through on the first call, what the probability of
getting through on the first call was, and how much the viewer
would expect to have to pay before be able to put their. answer
to the studio and therefore have a chance to win. We asked is
this gambling because the viewer is effectively putting up a stake
of 75 pence against the chance of getting through to the studio,
for which no skill is required. These questions were never answered.
24 November 2006
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