Quiz TV Investigations

It was interesting to see this evening, that now MPs are looking into the phenomenon of quiz TV. Of course the name itself is misleading because the programmes work on the basis of “questions” that don’t have certain answers – they’re largely guessing games.
Last week, Broadcast magazine reported that Channel 4 is planning on selling its channel, Quiz Call which is good to hear. What I hadn’t realised until I saw the Broadcast piece is that Quiz Call has been the subject of a Sunday Times investigation into alleged misbehaviour on the part of the broadcaster. The paper reports that the channel has used its own staff to pose as winners with large cheques, and sometimes ensures that nobody could win prizes for up to 40 minutes.
Earlier in the year, a channel called Big Game TV was raided by police following complaints by viewers to You and Yours – you can hear the piece here.
So now there are investigations into these channels by Ofcom, ICSTIS, the Gambling Commission, and now MPs. As Evan Davies pointed out in his Ten O’Clock News report, TV companies are seeing advertising revenues dropping off, and this has been a nice little earner. But they’re lotteries pure and simple – so give 20% to charity and publish the odds of getting through.


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