Q: What will regulators do to easy phone-in comps?

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1515553,00.html


Regulators are planning to clamp down on the easy phone-in competitions which are a feature of many shows from Richard and Judy to Ant and Dec Saturday Nights Takeaway.


About time - though I bet they'll find a way around it as after all, these were introduced when they were banned from allowing viewers to ring in to enter a lottery-type situation.

but what's the problem with it?

Will they go 50-50, phone a friend, or ask the audience?

I guess it's to do with more people ringing in, if the question is one which anyone with a brain is able to answer, thus reducing the odds of winning. But then I still don't really see the problem - surely its the viewer's choice whether to enter a competition like that.

The Questions are easy, to get more phone calls, to pay for the shows.

If people are dumb enough to enter the contest, they deserve their 50p taken...

If there's no skill required then it's technically a lottery rather than a competition, and I believe a licence is required to run a lottery.

i see what you mean - thanks for the explanation.

That's correct - all media were clamped down on big style - a winner can still be picked at random...but they must have had to use skill to enter and get through. How much skill is up to the broadcaster.

OK, I just went on to the Channel 4 website to try to win some Coldplay tickets, and here is te question which parted me from becoming a potential winner.

How many people are there in Coldplay?
- Four
- One million
- None

I see what you mean.

Popworld have some of the best options.

What does Will Young prefer to eat soup with?
a: Archduke Franz Ferdinand
b: A Spoon
c: UNICEF

I can't see the harm in the daft questions to be honest.

... apart from the moment the questions become 'daft' it ceases to be a competition.

I see that ITV are advertising for someone to co-ordinate all the phone-in competitions now infesting regional news programmes:
www.info.itvjobs.com/wd/plsql/wd_pds?p_web_page_id=19712