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A game of chance?

Posted in General, Media, Mel Varley May 22nd, 2007 by Melinda Varley

The Gambling Commission is set to rule that quiz-style phone-in programmes are to be classified as lotteries meaning that broadcasters would have to donate one fifth of any profit to UK charities.

While you can’t complain about people in need getting a little extra help, you have to wonder how broadcasters such as ITV and Five will take the news considering the quizzes are a way of bolstering their revenues.

Broadcasters, and newspapers for that matter, have been reporting huge profit dives due to a downturn in advertising revenue thanks to the surge of online and digital opportunities.

Therefore, television shows, such as Grease is the Word and channels such as ITV Play and GMTV fully rely on competitions and phone-ins in order to stay on the air.

But the Gambling Commission argues that the vast majority of quiz competitions involve no skill, and are effectively a game of chance – just like the lottery.

So are phone-in funded TV shows on the way out or will the stakes become slightly higher and more incentive focused to make up their revenues? After all, it’d be a golden marketing opportunity to inform viewers that by phoning-in they are essentially donating money to charity.