Regulator allows charging for uncounted TV text votes Broadcasters can charge people for TV text message votes received after voting has closed as long as the closing time is made clear to viewers, premium rate phone regulator PhonepayPlus (PPP) has said. The regulator has updated rules (pdf) introduced in 2008 as a wave of phone vote scandals rocked the television industry. It …
Clients of ours have SMS bulk terminals and when they close for the day they close the terminals down.
Messages sent after close down are bounced, with a message indicating failure, for which no charge is made.
This is similar to a call that doesn't complete - no talk, no charge.
Why can't the phone lines or other media be effectively disconnected at the appointed hour, possibly with a nice user friendly message similar to the ubiquitous "all our operators are busy - so piss off" message. This seems to technically possible in some circumstances and removes the problem.
" The rules now say that phone lines can stay open during repeats as long as the votes received will still be counted."
So when they repeat Crap-factor et-all, in 18 months time, the winner wont be the winner if all of a sudden thousands of people decide to vote for another act?
Or am i just awake yet???
That works fine for britain's got dancing on idols where the phone lines only exist for that show, but what about (as an example) Real Radio doing a vote using their existing phone line? calls/texts won't be counted for the vote but they still need the lines open for song requests etc. Not sure if any TV shows would have this format, but you see the point. The regulation has to be good for EVERYONE.
Part of me thinks that voting in these shows should be free (usual network charges apply) which might deter the programme makers from churning out so much formulaic rubbish. And part of me thinks if the daytime-tv-tards want to pay extra to "interact" with this dross, well screw 'em!
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