Quiz TV closes down

"Reality Check?" "Business?" Hah! Greggy baby you surprise me. The minute you start confusing what you do with any type of business model the minute you start on a very slippery path. QM isn't a business, it's a lottery.

The only people who are allowed to run "businesses" have to have licences and be ratified by an industry regulator. Even if Quizmania doesn't use the same tactics as BGTV, your type of TV show is a lottery - pure and simple. And the only people allowed to run lotteries and gambling are those with gambling licenses. So far BGTV, QM, The Mint, Big British Quiz, Quizworld etc. are operating without gambling licenses and are therefore in breach of the law.

Watch out Greggles - you've jumped from one sinking ship to another. With the closure of OneTV, AuctionWorld etc. due to dubious practices the shopping TV boom appears to be slowing as people are more cautious to spend their money on TV. Even Freeview hasn't added a shopping channel for 2 years when for the first month of their life they added 3 to the already in place QVC. Quiz telly will be next. Where BGTV falls the other, smaller, quizzes will follow as people wise up.

And there's the immorality of it. They don't even tell people they're wrong you just go ahead and "see if it's there". They could have just tuned in that second. They broadcast for 5 hours a night - with the main ladder quiz lasting for the majority of that time. If they believed in a fair and above board QM you wouldnt bullsh!t the caller who's been lucky to get through with an answer that's already been given. Quiz telly already clutter their screens with loads of gfx maybe they could put a list of the wrong answers? Or would that result in fewer callers? Less money for the bosses? Less money for you Greggles?

And who outside of the Royal College of Medicine has heard of a Geriatrition? I think you'll find that most educated intellectuals are out saving lives at 2am in the morning while badly-fake people are prancing about in pink studios trying to squeeze money out of insomniacs and the in-debt and the unemployed?

OK....that hasn't made me feel better but I'm glad I got it off my chest. Nothing against you as a person Greg but you can do way better than QM mate....get a better agent. They're dying for someone funny to replace Paul O'Grady at 5pm on ITV1. Richard Hammond is best driving cars, you're best at entertianing people not fleecing them like some cheerful Scrooge in a green tie.

I only ever use "the great big british quiz", as it has free web entry.

(yes, it does let you on air. sometimes.)

Yes, that's what it comes down to, isn't it? These quizzes are actually illegal lotteries.
ie, although I don't know if I'm right, presumably this is to do with the lack of having 'fixed odds' as I mentioned earlier ?

However, maybe the companies do have gambling licences, but choose not to 'brand' themselves as lotteries ??

This is the sort of incident I've been anticipating, and one of the main reasons ITV should have never allowed its brand to be attached to the genre. It's a case of amazing short-sightedness.

Probaby part of the reason Channel 4 used the name 'Quiz Call' rather than something like Games 4. If something goes wrong either their company or the genre they can distance themselves a bit.

At the end of the day most businesses are out to make a profit. Quiz channels that give out large cash prizes are able to do so by lots of people phoning in. I agree with Greg when he says "that in ANY line of business, you have the good guys, and the bad guys". Some quiz channels have puzzles that have dubvious answers (eg. add all the numbers) as Watchdog has mentioned in the past, others restrict the number of calls getting through to the studio drastically. However there are channels that are above board, with answerable puzzles and a reasonable chance of getting through to the studio.

At the end of the day if people feel a channel is acting dubviously then they shouldn't phone up to guess answers to quizes. Prehaps the channels should do what programmes such as 'Deal or no deal' do and state "Call cost £1, not all callers will be sucessful but all calls will be charged". Some may already do this, but this would make it absolutely clear to everyone where they stand.

or 4Play

IIRC it's also owned by an obscure holding company to further it from the 4Ventures name.

Ostrich Media. Head in the sand, perhaps?

That's why they have the free web entry route with a supposedly equal chance of winning, as it can then be classed as a "competition" rather than gambling, and then becomes outside the remit of gambling legislation. It's also known as the No Purchase Necessary route which promoters have used for years on product-based Instant Win competitions.

I think the possible illegality here is the endless stream of misleading statements and misleading impressions given by the presenters of these channels. Such as "we just need that answer from you... it's easy" - when it's as near to impossible as one could ever imagine, and "come on, I'm waiting for a call..." - giving the impression that no one's calling them. And the "Add The Numbers" type games, particularly on Quiz Call, where the answer is some obscure complex algorithm which could never be arrived at through logic and is never explained to the viewers afterwards.

The Mint started doing one of those annoying "Add All The Numbers" games last night which I was surprised about.

Aside from the other issues that've been raised so far in this thread as to the supposed legalities and business practices
of these so called quiz channels and programs, there is one other issue that I don't think anyone else has considered.

They're not really presenting quiz games for us to participate in. They're actually more like puzzle games. To me, a quiz
game usually consists of a series of specifically categorized or general knowledge questions, all with specific answers.
The likes of Quizmania, Quiz Call, The Great British Quiz, from what I've seen, only seem to pose "ladder" puzzles
with a set of randomly pre-selected answers. And in a lot of cases the answers are somewhat obscure.

If anything, these so called quiz channels and programs, ought to be called "Puzzle Mania", "Puzzle Call", and similar.

I'll agree with one comment that has been mentioned by a few others here, that Quizmania is one quiz/puzzle program
that actually tries to provide some entertainment, rather than let the presenters silently gawp into the camera for ages!

I thought the free {web} entry was a requirement by ICSTIS for premium rate competitions, rather than being to do with any lottery/competition status?
Either way, these quizzes have obviously been operating at the fringes of law, if not morality, for a long time.

Absolutely shameful, isn't it.
Then of course, factor in those operators who actually ask you for your answer before you get through to the studio ... obviously a great way to filter out correct answers and prolong the 'we need more callers' line ...
Cash House by Telecoms TV certainly works like that, as one of the presenters actually explained it on the air a few days ago.
Whoops !