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(London Times) Dumbass Step 1: Ask viewers to make toll-calls in order to enter a contest. Step 2: ???? Step 3: Profit. Apparently British TV producers find step 2 unnecessary   (timesonline.co.uk) divider line 25
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Katie98_KT 2007-02-25 06:24:44 PM  
step 1. Offer Americans the chance to vote about the outcome of a contest which doesn't really matter for only $1 a piece.
Step 3. Profit

there isn't a step two in the US either.

 
Gothmolly 2007-02-25 08:35:24 PM  
blah blah, bad teeth joke, blah blah, ASBO joke, blah blah, socialism FTW

/slash, and be done with it.

 
parkerlewis 2007-02-25 08:36:49 PM  
Phase, not step.

static.flickr.com

 
zefal 2007-02-25 08:41:38 PM  
I came in here to say what Gothmolly said but with out the sarcasm.

 
jack21221 2007-02-25 08:52:42 PM  
They have something like that over here, only instead of toll calls, it's a 1 dollar text message. If they pick your text message, they ask you a ridiculously easy question, answer it, and give you money.

 
duncangonuts 2007-02-25 08:52:54 PM  
Katie98_KT: step 1. Offer Americans the chance to vote about the outcome of a contest which doesn't really matter for only $1 a piece.
Step 3. Profit

there isn't a step two in the US either.

They do that on gameshows like "1 vs 100" and "Deal or No Deal" too, you can call text them an answer to a question for a chance to win money. What I wonder is how many viewers realize that you can just go to the show's website and enter the contest for free? My guess is not enough for the show to stop...

 
xBodo99 2007-02-25 08:54:15 PM  
Katie98

I was watching American Idol last week -- yes, yes, I'm everything that's wrong with America and so on -- and saw their little phone contest. Oh my God, you can win $10,000!

As you've noted, they charge $1 for each call (just like the votes for Idol). They had some 34 million votes last week; if 10% of those people did the text-message game, then the producers are drawing a tremendous profit w/ a teeny tiny payout.

It's almost exactly like any state lottery scratch ticket, only with worse odds. I can't figure out how it's legal.

 
haemaker [TotalFark] 2007-02-25 09:13:30 PM  

 
ssj4android 2007-02-25 09:22:10 PM  
Yeah, why do people enter via text message for a buck each, when they can do it online for free? And they seem to limit you to 10 entries, is there a reason for that?ss

 
ansius 2007-02-25 09:28:14 PM  
they're now running ads for this in prime time in Australia. And the networks have realised how cheap it is to make 1hr shows based on this that fill in the air time after midnight.

They've killed late night, come home drunk TV.

 
galactus5000 2007-02-25 09:49:38 PM  
Win an Apple iPod, all you have do is SMS the answer to the following question:

Who is the director of The Passion of The Christ?

Is it: A) Mel Gibson or B) A tiny duck

SMS charges are $7 per message

 
dj245 2007-02-25 09:54:50 PM  
Win an Apple iPod, all you have do is SMS the answer to the following question:

Who is the director of The Passion of The Christ?

Is it: A) Mel Gibson or B) A tiny duck

SMS charges are $7 per message

I'll bet you dinner (hot woman) that Tom Cruise was the director of The Passion of The Christ!

/it worked in Seinfeld

 
DeadKitten 2007-02-25 10:24:23 PM  
duncangonuts
They do that on gameshows like "1 vs 100" and "Deal or No Deal" too, you can call text them an answer to a question for a chance to win money. What I wonder is how many viewers realize that you can just go to the show's website and enter the contest for free? My guess is not enough for the show to stop...

At a NATPE meeting a few weeks ago in Las Vegas discussing alternative revenue streams for broadcasters, the producers of Deal Or No Deal (Endemol) proudly announced that the average revenue from those text entries is over $600,000 per show.

That amount is before the cell carriers take their cut - I have no idea if it's 10% or 50%, but still. That's a heck of a rake for a $10,000 payout. (It's also why the question they ask on 1 vs 100 is ridiculously easy.)

My thought -- gee, make the payout $100,000 and watch income explode to over 7 figures. But they probably don't want to mess with a system that's working too well.

 
DeadKitten 2007-02-25 10:28:34 PM  
Correction - the payout is $30,000 per show, since they give out a prize for EST/CST, one for MST, and one for PST. (Still, $600,000 revenue vs $30,000 payout...)

In other words, if you live in the mountain time zone, your odds are a heck of a lot better than anyone else. But probably still crappy.

 
PlaidKing 2007-02-25 10:30:11 PM  
Wouldn't step two just be profit then?
Step 1: You pay them
Step 2: They profit

 
howdoibegin 2007-02-25 10:59:26 PM  
Entering such a contest is pretty dumb, but thinking they're exclusive to a particular country despite domestic reporting slants is even dumber.

 
Day_Old_Dutchie 2007-02-25 11:04:40 PM  
img86.imageshack.us

 
beowulf_cluster 2007-02-25 11:11:20 PM  
Those farking underpants gnomes have got a lot to answer for

 
dp462090 2007-02-25 11:28:23 PM  
PlaidKing: Wouldn't step two just be profit then?


Hey, stop using logic.

 
bingo the psych-o 2007-02-26 12:16:36 AM  
Oh please, everybody knows that "Ebay" is the missing phase between "steal underpants" and "profit".

 
Tungsten--Rail- 2007-02-26 01:47:55 AM  
WOW 25p's I need to get the newspaper and start cutting out letters.. I wanna send all the 25p's to them too.

 
Mobro4000 2007-02-26 02:44:53 AM  
PHASE 2: sell underpants to creepy japanese underpants vending machine guy

/underpants discussions are much more interesting than one about a bri'ish cooking show

 
drxym 2007-02-26 06:41:03 AM  

This is not a new phenomenon. UK TV shows have being doing this for a long time. Often they produce some inane competition with an obvious answer and then charge a fortune to enter to win some paltry price.


Typical "quiz" to win a TV or similar goes - "Which colour is Kermit the Frog? - press 1 for Green, 2 for Gold or 3 for Elephant. Calls cost £1.50 a minute", or "Where is Coronation Street set? text in A for Manchester, B for Uganda or C for Mars. Texts £1.50 per text, 4 texts required" etc.


It's a right scam in other words. People must be stupid enough to fall for it though if they do it. Doesn't mean it should be legal though.


 
unlikely [TotalFark] 2007-02-26 11:49:33 AM  
I watched that show every night while we were in London. I loved it. I marvelled at how happy people seemed to be when they got through.

The best part was how they took maybe four calls per hour and then told everyone "if you don't get through the first time, keep trying!"

 
costas 2007-02-26 05:29:59 PM  
The late-night quiz channels are the best. £1 to enter, and if you're lucky you *might* get through to the studio to take a guess at 'Name a Film Beginning with M' or 'Name a Colour'.

Funny thing is, you don't see many winners. Why? Well, someone stayed up late one night to tape the answers being revealed. This may explain a few things.

 
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