Aren't/weren't premium rate numbers charged at a minimum of a minute anyway?
The minimum rate I'm sure was added later. An archive Usenet posting suggests it was simply always a flat rate up until the 0891 numbers were replaced. I'm happy to be proved wrong as always.
Some other archive postings on Usenet suggest the BBC may have been piggy-backing on somebody else's premium service to provide the viewer interactivity (House Party wasn't unique in its viewer calls-to-action by any stretch of the imagination, though it is more prominent as it was a live show - other shows like Going for Gold had its own viewer competition for example).
I spotted this on an old Usenet post from 1997, it probably isn't that far away from the situation in 1992 (the "rebate" appears to be what the company gets from the number - 22p kept by BT, the rest to them):
On 19/2/97 Customers calling 0891 numbers will be charged at 50p/minute - irrespective of the time of day. The "Base Level" SP Revenue Rebate is now 27.28p/minute IIRC.
Less than 6 months ago "Cheap Rate" Callers to 0891 numbers were paying *39p/minute*. The "Base Level" SP Revenue Rebate was 24.78p/minute IIRC.
This suggests 1992 levels at 36p a minute, assuming the rebate was about 24p a minute, means the BBC at 10p a minute would have been either heavily loss making, shared/subsidised, or the difference has come out of the programme budget for what the end-of-show question revenue didn't cover.
I know The Big Breakfast charged 25p for 0891 numbers for most of its life, though a comp would require more time on the line than a poll.
Meanwhile nowadays the BBC have I think 13 terms and conditions to agree to for a free online opinion poll, whilst the EU Referendum had zero.
Old 0898/0891 numbers used to be charged at 39p per minute off-peak and 48p per minute during peak.
When The phONE Number Change (ie when phone numbers had 01 inserted in front of the number and some other cities changed to either 02x or 011x numbers) came into force, rates to the premium rate numbers and the 09x numbers we see today were introduced.
It's also worth noting that some 07x numbers aren't that for mobile phone codes, but are in fact personal numbers, and charge a LOT more than calling a mobile, but aren't classed as premium rate and at one point, I think it was RI:SE, they were used for viewer interaction.
Some of the old 089x numbers did charge more per minute. This Morning competitions' numbers changed a lot from 0898 to 0891 then to 0894 and 0899 numbers depending on the prize. The same today, some competitions on This Morning are charged at a flat-rate of 50p (plus network extras) whilst others cost £2 (plus network extras) per call.
Before we had non-geographic numbers (034x, 064x, 084x and 089x) national television programming, mainly telethons and news coverage, always had different numbers for the region you were watching, and a national number (usually 071, 0171 or 0207) if your local line was busy. This was notable on the ITV Telethon's back in the late 80s.
Most phone votes and competitions on programming today has a mobile shortcode that can be dialled - usually beginning with a 6. These are charged at the same rate as if you were calling off your landline (except in 3's Pay As You Go service, where they are noticeably a lot more expensive). This is because the broadcasters no longer use SMS voting. The 090x and 6xxxxx numbers all terminate at the same call-logging service so votes and competitions can be counted quickly.
Finally, not all geographic phone numbers may actually terminate where you think. Some 020 3xxx xxxx numbers are VoIP and can terminate anywhere, not in London. One recent one was when Crimewatch had a problem with their 0500 and 0800 numbers. They put a London number up but actually diverted all calls to Cardiff where the show was being broadcast from.
Before we had non-geographic numbers (034x, 064x, 084x and 089x) national television programming, mainly telethons and news coverage, always had different numbers for the region you were watching, and a national number (usually 071, 0171 or 0207) if your local line was busy. This was notable on the ITV Telethon's back in the late 80s.
The early Children in Needs were notable for that too, loads of numbers scrolled past for virtually every local radio station or BBC office in the region
I saw some footage of Live Aid, with Mike Smith explaining in the early hours of the morning that some of the regional call centres were closing but the London number would stay open.
It's easy to forget that until recently you paid more to call outside of your local area (your area code and the adjoining ones)
Here's some phones from the back of CAR which would be diverted down to - presumably - the phone room for whichever programme was using them. They've got 01-740 numbers on them - apparently 811 was created especially for the BBC to prevent all the trunk lines to other users on the Shepherd's Bush exchange being engaged.
I got excited when I had a mooch around the back of CAR and found those phones... then disappointed that one wasn't the fabled 811 8055!
I've heard that about 01 811, but if it was only the BBC using it I wonder why the famous phone in number was 8055 and not 1111 or something more simple?
TV Centre had 8576 and another local code just for internal phones, I wonder when they'll be given out to customers who'll get odd calls all day from TV companies who haven't updated their phone lists.
Before we had non-geographic numbers (034x, 064x, 084x and 089x) national television programming, mainly telethons and news coverage, always had different numbers for the region you were watching, and a national number (usually 071, 0171 or 0207) if your local line was busy. This was notable on the ITV Telethon's back in the late 80s.
The early Children in Needs were notable for that too, loads of numbers scrolled past for virtually every local radio station or BBC office in the region
.....and tut tut for using '0207'!
One of my early work experience jobs was answering the phones on Children In Need night at my BBC local radio station in the early 90s. It was all very low-tech, writing people's credit card details down on sheets of A4. I guess the whole process is automated these days.
One of my early work experience jobs was answering the phones on Children In Need night at my BBC local radio station in the early 90s. It was all very low-tech, writing people's credit card details down on sheets of A4. I guess the whole process is automated these days.
I volunteered to do the same at a BT call centre in 2003 (I still have the t-shirt with the 0845 number printed on the back). It was supposed to be done online then but the system didn't work so we had to write them down too!
One of my early work experience jobs was answering the phones on Children In Need night at my BBC local radio station in the early 90s. It was all very low-tech, writing people's credit card details down on sheets of A4. I guess the whole process is automated these days.
Is that why they used to call them 'pledges' rather than donations?
