From Daily Express:

BBC was plunged into a fresh crisis last night, with calls for phone-voting on talent shows to be suspended, along with phone-in ­competitions. (Here is a list of affected shows.)

Entertainment shows, such as Strictly Come Dancing and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, were facing an uncertain future after Ofcom revealed that 75 per cent of viewers don’t believe their votes are being counted, and 40 per cent don’t trust the BBC to run a phone vote.

The BBC has suspended phone-in competitions following a string of revelations, but phone-voting on talent shows is currently unaffected.

The broadcast watchdog has had more than 60 complaints about alleged voting irregularities this year alone. One complaint concerned Strictly Come Dancing, while 26 were made against Eurovision’s Making Your Mind Up, both BBC shows.

An inquiry conducted for Ofcom by Richard Ayre, a former deputy chief executive of BBC News, revealed that the “majority of these complaints raised questions about the integrity of the voting mechanisms’.

Nigel Evans MP, of the Commons Culture Select Committee, called on the BBC to suspend phone-voting shows, saying the “viewer is being ripped off”. He urged the Government to ­introduce a system for phone-voting. “People need to be assured that when parting with cash the voting is going to be legitimate. Too many ­people have been conned and ripped off. If we don’t get a rigorous system, it’s going to be a bonanza for the con merchants of the future.”

John Beyer, of Mediawatch, said: “If phone-voting is being used by broadcasters as a discreet way of raising ­revenue, then these lines ought to be suspended as well as the quiz lines, and not opened again until the whole thing is investigated.”

An Ofcom spokeswoman said: “Richard Ayre’s inquiry recommended that broadcasters must be held directly responsible to Ofcom for their use of premium rate telephone lines (PRS).  This includes TV voting.

“In the next few weeks Ofcom will consult on new licence conditions to make this happen, and to require broadcasters to hold independent audits of their premium rate services.”

Thirty complaints over phone-voting were referred to ICTIS, the premium rate watchdog, for investigation. One BBC programme, Saturday Kitchen, is still under investigation.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, says it is ­considering a change to the Broadcasting Code to deal with potential vote rigging. A DCMS spokesman said: “The Government welcomes this investigation of compliance in the use of Premium Rate Services on ­television programmes.”

The revelations about a lack of ­confidence in phone-voting ­follows the scandal over phone-in competitions at the BBC. The Corporation has ­suspended all competitions after it was found that six shows, including Children in Need and Comic Relief, had deceived viewers.

Asked by Ofcom whether shows that ask viewers to call or text should be allowed on television, more than 60 per cent said they should be banned.

Voice of the Listener & Viewer chairman, Jocelyn Hay, said: “We are deeply shocked and concerned to
hear of the instances of deception and error in some BBC shows, now coming to light. In an era of increasing ­competition from commercial rivals, we believe it is important the BBC retains the trust not only of British licence fee ­payers but also of its worldwide audiences, now at record levels.”

Strictly Come Dancing, hosted by Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly, will return in the autumn.

If phone-voting were suspended it would deny Children in Need ­millions of pounds. According to the BBC, 12p from every 25p call goes to the Charity.

Trust in the BBC is at an all-time low. The Abolish The TV Licence ­campaign has published Government research which shows 14 million households would not subscribe to the BBC if they had the choice.

Spokesman Jonathan Miller said: “For the first time it puts a figure on the gap between what the public might be willing to pay for the BBC, and the £3billion it actually pays via a tax. The BBC would have a shortfall of £1.8billion.”(Our own comment: So if they stop generating money with PRS, they would have to raise this tax by 60% ?!)

The suspension of phone-in ­competitions followed the emergence of ­deceptions involving Children In Need, Comic Relief, Sports Relief, children’s channel CBBC, the World Service and 6 Music.On each occasion, viewers were invited to call in – but the winning ­contestants were either members of the production team or fictitious.

There are suggestions that Scotland Yard may hold an inquiry to see if any criminal offences have been ­committed.

The BBC says it has no plants to axe its voting programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing.

In a statement on the Corpor­ation’s use of premium rate lines, Mr Thompson promised: “We will examine the use of text voting in very popular programming with high levels of interactivity.

“Although no ­specific problems have been identified, we believe this is an area which would benefit from ­further examination to ensure complete confidence in our ­systems. This will be carried out by the BBC Working Party.

“We will review our current ­measures for preventing vote-rigging and explore new ones. This will be done in partnership with telephony service providers.

“We will work with telephone providers to explore measures to close phone lines once high-level interactivity is concluded. At present there is no technical mechanism available to ­prevent callers from being charged for ­calling after the vote has closed.”

And he added: “BBC viewers and ­listeners very much enjoy and benefit from interacting with programmes, and they do so in large numbers. The BBC does not make a profit from this activity.

Posted on July 24th, 2007 by lbraum
Filed under: UK, Call-In TV