It's interesting that this investigation is only affecting ITV as wasn't Big Game TV one of the first channels to be exposed for this sort of thing (or similar)... and IIRC they operate out of 200 Grays Inn Road as well.
Its an ITV funded investigation. Why would ITV pay an auditor to audit a rival channel?
I noticed that too, you would think they would've changed to website to remove that facility.
I don't think this is going to be a very in-depth audit of ITV Play, as the overnight schedule for the simulcast on ITV1 has only been changed for tonight (including 2 hours of Nightscreen). They are obviously expecting ITV Play to be back by Wednesday evening.
Endemol and a number of other companies are said to have looked into their own phone in operations and believe they are compliant and are now calling for an "industry standard" kitemark ahead of their showdown with ICSTIS on Thursday.
AFAIK ITV were "talking to GMTV" about them having a similar suspension for a while, which probably means they were reluctant to lose the income from just "quizzes" as
"What colour is the sky?, is it:
Blue
Dark Green
Deep Purple
Call 0901 XXX XXXX (calls at extortionate rate)
I'm surprised this debacle hasn't been investigated before. Although I'm just as shocked that people actually ring up to answer these questions.
Personally I'm a BBC Breakfast man, so the most I would ever get tempted into in the morning is either a text or an Email to them (and I did get one of mine read out once!)
It's all very well being rid of ITV Play for 24-48 hours, but it really needs to go forever (even if that does increase the sales of tins of cadbury "celebrations").
Freeview punters should expect a better use of the bandwidth than a channel that encourages people to enter either non-existent or truly-obscure quizzes.
I don't think the actual channel itself is that profitable actually when you consider the level of prizes and ITV have to shell out millions for the slot- it's the overnight slots on ITV1 where the money is made.
This whole thing though once again showing up the hypocracy of the press. The Mirror on one page saying ITV had no choice but to pull them and other broadcasters should follow suit - and then a few pages later inviting you to enter a competition at rates of 50p a minute - and then even more exploitive all the Dr Miriam helplines, against something like 50p/60p a minute.
And the Mail are in no position to judge considering they have just launched a gaming channel themselves on Freeview as part of Teletext.
The Sun openly criticised ITV... then had an opportunity to win "100 BORAT DVDs by Midnight... 1.50 a minute on BT phone lines... 1.50 + standard msg rate on mobiles!!
Blue
