Crosby provides answer to phone-in fiasco.
Broadcasting companies have recently come under intense scrutiny with regard to their use of
premium rate phone lines on some of their most popular programmes, causing the integrity of
current audience participation systems to be brought into question.
A high-profile investigation by phone watchdog ICSTIS into the practices of a several leading
television companies has revealed numerous incidents of viewers being effectively ripped-off.
Uncounted phone and text votes, completion charges being issued despite callers failing to get
through, and even instances of viewers being urged to enter competitions after the winners have
already been decided are just some of the apparent swindles which have been revealed by the
investigation.
In a number of cases, negligence and computer error have been cited as the main causes of the
problems
With consumer confidence at rock bottom, ICSTIS has now officially informed broadcasters that
tighter systems and procedures must be introduced if they are to avoid further mistakes and
restore viewers' trust in their interactive services.
In response to these recent developments, Crosby today announced that its "RAPS" and
"TAPS" products (which have now been in operation for over two years) are designed specifically
to help broadcasters avoid the kind of errors which have led to their current predicament, and
provide a more trustworthy and efficient service.
Crosby's products give broadcasters complete, real-time control over all aspects of their
interactive programmes, and empower them to easily demonstrate (to both clients and regulators)
that they are operating reliable and fair audience participation procedures.
The advantages of our "RAPS and TAPS" services fall into four main categories:
Cost Control
With our systems you can:
- Set a limit on the number of votes or entry attempts each viewer can make per day
(lower than the ICSTIS guidelines if required).
- View real-time data for each caller, including their number of entry attempts and total
spending for a particular programme over the last day, week, month or series.
- Send out automatic warning and information messages to callers about the amounts they
have spent, based on your own policies as well as those of ICSTIS, ensuring that you are
taking a proactive stance with regard to regulations and perhaps even setting new standards.
- View statistical data for all audience participation shows in real-time, showing the
revenues generated from each caller in relation to on-screen programming time, allowing you
to easily analyse and audit financial information and ensure that a fair system of
entry/voting is enforced.
Synchronisation
Our products facilitate real-time synchronisation with interactive television systems, allowing
for the cessation of premium-rate lines, text services and website entry forms as soon as
competitions close, and ensuring that viewers cannot inadvertently make an entry after the
winners have been chosen.
Competitions and other services can also be "locked" at any time, preventing callers
from ringing up when watching a pre-recorded programme that they have mistakenly perceived as
being live.
"Locked" services can then only be re-enabled with the consent of a senior employee
of the broadcasting company, and our systems come with full audit tracking and accounting
facilities to ensure that this remains the case.
Detection
Recent media reports have suggested that broadcasters allowed premium rate lines to continue
operating when recorded programmes were being screened as live. As a result people continued to
ring up expecting to enter a competition or register their vote. Unbeknown to them however,
entry to the competition or their voting procedure had already closed, and while their calls
were charged, their entries/votes could not be counted.
Our systems can automatically identify (in real-time) any calls to a competition or service
that should be offline and alert you instantly via e-mail, text message, outbound call, or even
through your existing setup.
Being informed immediately of any such "out of band" calls allows you to either take
the show in question off air, replace it with a message stating the competition had been closed,
or even, if necessary, cut off the entry number completely.
Reconciliation
A recent news article claimed that broadcasters were deliberately holding back certain votes,
in order that they should not count towards the outcome of a competition.
With our systems, it's possible to reconcile text votes with income figures in real-time,
demonstrating clearly that the number of votes counted accurately reflects the revenue generated
during either a certain period of time, or for a certain programme. A full, downloadable report
containing this data will enable you to quickly dismiss any allegations of fraud or vote fixing.
The above outlines just some of the many features and advantages of our systems. Crosby is
currently working closely with ICSTIS to update its "RAPS and TAPS" applications in
accordance with the new code of practice which has been generated as a result of its recent
findings.
For a full list of features and to find out more about implementing our "RAPS and TAPS"
solutions, please visit the following pages on our website:
Alternatively you can contact us directly to find out more.
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