ITV Play

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ITV Play
Launched	April 19, 2006
Closed	March 13, 2007
Owned by	ITV plc
Website	www.itv.com/play

ITV Play was a 24/7 participation television channel, but is still a brand attached to participation television programming across the ITV network in the United Kingdom owned by ITV plc.

The ITV Play brand to accompany participation television programming across ITV channels was launched on March 31, 2006 at midnight on ITV1, with the first edition of The Mint. ITV2 also launched ITV Play on the same night with Quizmania (previously on ITV1). It was launched as a standalone channel on Freeview (taking on the slot which was previously occupied by the Men & Motors channel) on April 19, 2006 and started broadcasting on the Sky Digital platform on July 24, 2006.

Both the ITV Play brand and channel were created in response to and hoping to cash in on the popularity of late night quiz shows on ITV1 and ITV2 such as Quizmania and The Mint. ITV Play also offered additional gambling services on their website.

It cost at least 75p per call to participate. This charge was made even if the caller was not put through to the studio. A free entry route was available through the website. Users were restricted to 150 calls/web entries in a 24 hour period. At peak times callers have a 1 in 8500 chance of getting through to the studio to play. [1]

Contents 1 Axing of the ITV Play channel 2 The Future of the ITV Play Brand 3 Criticisms 4 Suspension 5 Current Shows 5.1 Make Your Play 5.2 Glitterball 6 Previous Shows 6.1 The Mint 6.2 The Mint Extra 6.3 Play DJ 6.4 Playalong 6.5 The Zone 6.6 The Debbie King Show 6.7 This Morning Puzzlebook 6.8 Quizmania 6.9 The Call 6.10 The Common Room 6.11 The Daily Quiz! 6.12 Rovers Return Quiz 6.13 The School Run 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Axing of the ITV Play channel

On 13 March 2007, ITV announced that the ITV Play channel will be permanently axed following the recent concerns over participation television.^[1]

On 16 March 2007 the ITV Play Channel on Sky 856 finally closed. Sky boxes gave "Channel Unavailable" the following day, and then the slot was removed completely. On Freeview, the ITV Play channel has been replaced with ITV2+1.

[edit] The Future of the ITV Play Brand

The two main late night shows, Make Your Play and Glitterball are currently still being shown on ITV1 and ITV2 after midnight daily. Their future is still uncertain.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Criticisms

The 75p per call cost of a chance of involvement in shows, higher from mobile phones. Callers were charged for each call they made, whether connected to the studio or not. ITV had promised to make its programmes with higher production values than quiz programmes on other quiz channels, but with little evidence of such. Many of the callers were kept on hold and unable to connect.^[2].

Restrictions put on the number of attempts to call, 150 per day, mean that in a 24 hour period BT callers could still spend a maximum of £112.50 per day. This changed in February 2007 to 100 calls per day, so the maximum was £75 a day on BT.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2007, Ofcom found ITV guilty of breaching its broadcasting code for making answers to its quizzes too obscure. Viewers complained after two answers to the question "what items might be found in a woman's handbag?" were revealed to be "Balaclava" and "Rawlplugs". The 21 September 2006 quiz, was found to be in breach of the rule that "competitions should be conducted fairly". [2]

Although Ofcom confirmed this was the first formal breach of the code recorded against ITV Play, it warned the channel there should be no further incidents.^[3]

Quiz shows such as those shown on the ITV Play channel, as well as other ITV channels have also been heavily criticised by a the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. They stated that call TV programmes "generally look and feel like gambling", have "a lack of fairness and transparency" and that they encourage people to call more times than they can afford. Should ITV be classed as a gambling channel then it would be forced to give 20% of its profits to good causes. [3] Labour MP Paul Farrelly went further in his criticism of channels such as ITV Play describing them as "tantamount to theft" [4]

[edit] Suspension

On 5 March 2007, ITV announced that all premium rate phone competitions and quizzes, including the ITV Play channel, would be suspended while an audit took place. [5] Programmes ended in the early hours of 6 March 2007.

The audit was announced after a number of problems with premium rate services affecting ITV, BBC One and Channel 4, all of whom were to meet with the regulator ICSTIS. ITV appointed Deloitte as independent auditors.

ITV had erroneously overcharged viewers of The X Factor £200,000. Votes via interactive television were meant to be only 35p each, but voters were actually charged 50p.

The ITV Play brand returned on ITV1 in the early hours of 13th March when Glitterball was aired.

[edit] Current Shows

[edit] Make Your Play

Make Your Play is broadcast on ITV1 and ITV2 simultaneously from 1am on Thursdays - Saturdays, launched on September 29, 2006, The prizes are greater than usually available on ITV Play often exceeding £20,000, one night giving away £85,000^{[citation needed]}. Games include Snakeword Towers, Add the Numbers and Stack Race. Hosted by Alex Kramer and Ben Baldwin and also have two occasional presenters in Zö Christien, Charlie McArdle and previously Emily Booth for one weekend.

[edit] Glitterball

Glitterball launched on February 19, 2007. The presenting line-up consists of The Mint's Craig Stevens, Yiolanda (Yolly) Koppel, and also included Katy Pullinger, Zoe Hardman and Kéllé Bryan. The Show offers many games such as Spell Check, The People's Puzzle and others and gives a viewer the choice to take the cash or take the holiday. (cash or splash)

[edit] Previous Shows

[edit] The Mint

The Mint was a quiz show featuring minor celebrity guests in a large Mansion-like set. A £100,000 Jackpot was given away twice. The show was presented Brian Dowling, Kat Shoob, Craig Stevens, Cat Porter, Beverley French and Mark Rumble. The Mint in which over £6 million was given away, finished on February 14, 2007.

[edit] The Mint Extra

The Mint Extra was a spin-off from the main show The Mint. The presenters of The Mint Extra included Milo Macabe, Brian Dowling, Craig Stevens, Mark Rumble and Cat Porter.

[edit] Play DJ

Play DJ was a text based quiz show which was similar to ITV Playalong. You could also text in and vote for your favourite song to be played live on air. Presenters of the show included Nigel Mitchell, Ruth Frances, Amy Garcia, Emma Lee, Mark Ryes, Tim Dixon and Greg Scott. Play DJ ended on 6 March 2007.

[edit] Playalong

ITV Playalong was a text based games with five main games: Space Wars, Izit, Buzzwords, Cash Quiz, and String 'em In. High scorers were eligible to play the "Bonus Ball Bonanza" for a cash prize of up to £2000.

[edit] The Zone

The Zone was only on air for over a week it was an interactive gameshow that began on the February 26, 2007, on ITV Play and Men and Motors in the 3pm - 6pm TV slot. Presenters included Anna Fowler and Dave O'Riley. The show ended on 6 March 2007.

[edit] The Debbie King Show

The Debbie King Show was a magazine-style quiz show shown on the 10pm - 12am slot on ITV Play, and began on March 5, 2007 and lasted only for one show due to ITV Play being taken off the air the day after the show was launched.

[edit] This Morning Puzzlebook

This Morning Puzzlebook was a quiz show with large cash prizes first broadcast on ITV Play, then later as part of the daytime magazine programme This Morning. Presenters included Zö Christien, Tim Dixon, Emma Lee, Dave O'Reilly, Allison Hammond and Ben Baldwin. It aired for the last time on December 22, 2006.

[edit] Quizmania

Quizmania presented Greg Scott and others, was the first phone-in quiz show produced for ITV. The success of this show was one of the main reasons ITV started ITV Play. The last episode shown on January 14, 2007.

[edit] The Call

The Call presented by Tim Dixon, Dave O'Reilly, Zö Christien and Emma Lee, had a feature called the Phrase that Pays and a winner could be made simply by answering saying "ITV is the Place to Play" and not anything else. The first series of The Call ended on the December 22, 2006.

[edit] The Common Room

The Common Room, aired for half an hour in the early evenings. The Common Room's main presenters were Tim Dixon, Emma Lee and Zö Christien. The Common Room launched on ITV Play on 31 July. Unlike the rest of the ITV Play games, this was more of a chat show with minor prizes. The Common Room aired for its last time on November 10, 2006.

[edit] The Daily Quiz!

The Daily Quiz!, presented by Kat Shoob, launched on the March 13, 2006. On May 19, 2006, officers from the Fraud Squad raided the offices of BIG Game TV!, makers of The Daily Quiz! after a BBC Radio 4 investigation for the You and Yours programme found that receptionists were told to ignore all incoming calls for long periods of time while 150-200 calls per minute were clocked up at 75p a time

[edit] Rovers Return Quiz

The Rovers Return Quiz was a Coronation Street inspired pub quiz, based on the fictional public house, the Rovers Return Quiz aired for the last time on October 13, 2006. It was replaced by an extended version of This Morning Puzzlebook.

[edit] The School Run

The School Run aired everyday between in the early evening (and on Mondays at 9pm) it was hosted by either Tim Dixon, Emma Lee or Lawrie Jordon until 30 July 2006. It was replaced with The Common Room.

[edit] See also

• 2007 British television phone-in scandal

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• ITV Play at itv.com
• Digital Spy article