SAYNOTO0870.COM - Premium Rate Services (PRS) in turmoil

idb

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Premium Rate Services (PRS) in turmoil
Mar 5^th, 2007 at 10:28pm

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23387772-details/ITV+suspends+premium...

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ITV is pulling off air all of its premium rate interactive phone-ins following damaging allegations about viewers being ripped off.

The broadcaster has decided to suspend all these services - which includes phone-in votes and competitions on shows like Dancing on Ice and This Morning - while an independent review is carried out to see if viewers are getting a fair deal when they ring in.

[...]

This weekend ITV was facing accusations that viewers of Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway had been encouraged to call and text the ITV1 show using £1 a time phone lines to enter its "grab the ads" contest - even after the contestants had already been selected.

Only last week ITV admitted that viewers who had voted on The X Factor were overcharged by £200,000. ITV revealed that Sky Digital users who voted using the red button on their remote controls had been overcharged by 15p.

Before that the BBC was accused of misleading viewers after allegations that cookery show Saturday Kitchen had encouraged viewers to call in to the "live" show, even though it was a prerecorded a week earlier.

In one instance, the cookery show asked viewers to vote for which of two meals Eamonn Holmes should eat. But the show was pre-recorded and Holmes was presenting his slot on BBC Radio Five Live at the time.

[...]
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~Edited by bbb_uk: Amended title to take into consideration the many other broadcasters' PRS being called into question

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« Last Edit: Mar 10^th, 2007 at 4:08pm by bbb_uk »

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kk Senior Member Offline Posts: 354 Gender:	Re: ITV suspends premium rate services Reply #1 - Mar 5^th, 2007 at 11:35pm Paxman asks head of ICSTIS (BBC 2 Newsnight 5 March 07), why he did not regulate ITV’s use of premium rate numbers in programs, before ITV itself acted.
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firestop Full Member Offline Do unto others, before they get a chance to do.... Posts: 164	Re: ITV suspends premium rate services Reply #2 - Mar 6^th, 2007 at 7:53am What a 'gov puppet' he seemed to be (Sir Alan, that is) and his final 'big idea' to really come down hard - he is thinking up a new name, ICSTIS is not catchy enough!! God help us all!
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farci

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Re: ITV suspends premium rate services
Reply #3 - Mar 7^th, 2007 at 9:59am

kk wrote on Mar 5^th, 2007 at 11:35pm:

Paxman asks head of ICSTIS (BBC 2 Newsnight 5 March 07), why he did not regulate ITV’s use of premium rate numbers in programs, before ITV itself acted.

Michael Grade, ITV's new chairman, was 'Humphrey'd' on the Radio 4 Today programme this morning. His mumbled defence included a claim that the phone providers are partly to blame but declined to state how much profit ITV makes from each call. He also affirmed they would restart when their audit was complete

You can listen to the interview at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6420000/newsid_642580...

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Dave Global Moderator Offline Posts: 9,902 Yorkshire Gender:	Re: ITV suspends premium rate services Reply #4 - Mar 8^th, 2007 at 8:16pm Now Five has suspended these 'services', see here. Thing is that these are the sorts of companies that one has faith in, especially when you compare them to other less known (smaller) companies.
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farci

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Re: ITV suspends premium rate services
Reply #5 - Mar 8^th, 2007 at 10:52pm

Dave wrote on Mar 8^th, 2007 at 8:16pm:

Now Five has suspended these 'services', see here.

Thing is that these are the sorts of companies that one has faith in, especially when you compare them to other less known (smaller) companies.

A link from the webpage you quoted led to other story about BBC's Saturday Kitchen. There was a quote from the BBC that:

"neither the programme makers nor the BBC profits from phonelines on the programme."

Can this go unchallenged?

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moneysavin

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Capital Radio another possible premium rate ripoff
Reply #6 - Mar 10^th, 2007 at 3:24pm

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/arts_entertainment/media/radio+station+qui...

"Another twist in the spiralling scandals of premium rate quiz calls - now radio joins the controversy failing to tell listeners about the overwhelming costs of texting in.

Following a Channel 4 News investigation, the regulator is examining whether LBC - part of the giant Chrysalis group has misled listeners - over how much text and phone calls cost."

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« Last Edit: Mar 10^th, 2007 at 3:25pm by moneysavin »

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bbb_uk Global Moderator Offline Posts: 2,041	Re: Premium Rate Services (PRS) in turmoil Reply #7 - Mar 10^th, 2007 at 4:10pm I've amended the title of this post to reflect the fact that it not isn't just ITV's PRS that are under investigation but other broadcasters as well, including it appears Radio broadcasters now!
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jimjim

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Re: Premium Rate Services (PRS) in turmoil
Reply #8 - Mar 10^th, 2007 at 4:30pm

Was watching Saturday Kitchen on the BBC this morning, and they had a competion for Comic Relief, Calls cost 25p with at least 8p going to Comic Relief. I sent an email to the BBC asking what happens to the over two thirds that does not go to CR. and how much the BBC makes out of the calls to CR . Just got the bland auto reply, so none the wiser.

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kk Senior Member Offline Posts: 354 Gender:	Re: Premium Rate Services (PRS) in turmoil Reply #9 - Mar 10^th, 2007 at 5:04pm Make a second request quoting Freedom of Information Act. You must give an address for the reply.
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jimjim Junior Member Offline Posts: 68 Gender:	Re: Premium Rate Services (PRS) in turmoil Reply #10 - Mar 10^th, 2007 at 5:34pm kk wrote on Mar 10^th, 2007 at 5:04pm: Make a second request quoting Freedom of Information Act. You must give an address for the reply. Done!!
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bbb_uk

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Re: Premium Rate Services (PRS) in turmoil
Reply #11 - Mar 10^th, 2007 at 6:00pm

jimjim wrote on Mar 10^th, 2007 at 4:30pm:

Just got the bland auto reply, so none the wiser.

Was it an auto reply as in something along the lines thank you for your query, we will respond within x...?

It seems to me that the reply was very quick which would indicate that its just an automated response saying they'll deal with your query and get in touch later, etc.

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jimjim

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Re: Premium Rate Services (PRS) in turmoil
Reply #12 - Mar 10^th, 2007 at 8:02pm

bbb_uk wrote on Mar 10^th, 2007 at 6:00pm:

jimjim wrote on Mar 10^th, 2007 at 4:30pm:

Just got the bland auto reply, so none the wiser.

Was it an auto reply as in something along the lines thank you for your query, we will respond within x...?

It seems to me that the reply was very quick which would indicate that its just an automated response saying they'll deal with your query and get in touch later, etc.

No mention of getting in touch, "Due to the size of the mailbag we are very sorry that we are unable to enter any indivual correspondence"

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« Last Edit: Mar 10^th, 2007 at 8:53pm by jimjim »

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bbb_uk

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Re: Premium Rate Services (PRS) in turmoil
Reply #13 - Mar 11^th, 2007 at 8:57am

jimjim wrote on Mar 10^th, 2007 at 8:02pm:

No mention of getting in touch, "Due to the size of the mailbag we are very sorry that we are unable to enter any indivual correspondence"

That's very rude so good on you for doing an FOI. I would have mentioned in the FOI that if they had bothered to at least email you back instead of basically saying thank you for your email but get lost you're not going to get a reply from us because we can't be bothered, then an FOI wouldn't have been needed.

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Heinz Supreme Member Offline Posts: 1,362 Essex	Re: Premium Rate Services (PRS) in turmoil Reply #14 - Mar 11^th, 2007 at 12:29pm Interesting piece in the Telegraph yesterday with a pie chart showing where the money from a 75p per minute number goes - 52p is straight profit for the TV company running the scam!
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