WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-05-09 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
Phoning a premium rate cellphone line late at night, and holding on at R7.50 per minute in the hope that you’ll be the one to get through, get the question right and win big, is not a whole lot different from feeding coins into a slot machine, if you ask me.
Only you get to throw your money away while wearing your pyjamas.
Oh, and one’s called gambling while the other is called participation television. It’s been done in other parts of the world, of course, and been roundly condemned for making millions for broadcasters at the expense of viewers.
In South Africa, e.tv’s Brain Box quiz show, screened late at night along with the soft porn, has attracted its fair share of criticism since its launch late last year, with iTouch as its wireless application service provider (Wasp) and Ostrich Media as the production company.
The main complaint is that would-be contestants make their calls and run up their cellphone bills while being made to hold, but only a tiny percentage of them are selected to take part in the contest.
“If you are not given a chance to give your answer, your money should not be taken,” said Ray Andrews. “This quiz show appears to be nothing more than a money-making rip-off!”
The show’s woman presenter has an astonishing ability to keep a sense of urgency going for an hour or so, repeatedly urging viewers to call in or SMS, all to a soundtrack of fast-paced game show music and canned audience cheering.
All very cheesy, and all very lucrative for e.tv and the others in the feeding chain, with most wannabe winners holding on at R7.50 a minute in the vain hope of being the chosen one.
Unsurprisingly, e.tv has no plans to end Brain Box’s run anytime soon.
The channel’s head of publicity, Vasili Vass, said the station had “noted” the complaints and was “currently looking into ways in which we can make viewers more aware of the rules and implications of participating”.
“Participation TV” like Brain Box was still relatively new to South Africa, Vass said, “and it’s understandable that some viewers don’t yet fully understand the concept”.
But the show is currently “fair and transparent”, Vass said, as the presenter states every few minutes that calls and SMSs are charged for, whether selected or not.
“The on-screen graphics also display this message every few minutes,” he said. So who decides which callers/texters will be chosen to answer one of the questions?
They’re chosen “at random by a computer system”, Vass said.
“And we call back the selected person to let them play on-air.”
Last year, TV quiz shows hit the news in a big way in the UK, sparked mostly by revelations that callers to the Richard and Judy show on Channel 4 were encouraged to call in for a place on a quiz even though contestants had already been selected.
Other such programmes were critisised by then Chancellor Gordon Brown for exploiting the poor, and media regulator Ofcom launched a full inquiry into the money-spinning programmes.
In Australia, Consumer Affairs Minister Marsha Thomson warned that viewers phoning late night TV games shows were “gambling with high phone bills”.
“Callers can find themselves hit with a sizeable phone bill, all on the promise of winning a few prizes,” the minister said about 18 months ago.
She said the shows encouraged viewers to call in for their chance to win a prize while the phone lines were free. “Instead, when viewers do call often they are put on hold and then told they were unlucky this time, and to try again,” she said.
Interestingly, on the Brain Box website, under terms and conditions, the following appears: “Ostrich Media recommends you set yourself a limit of 140 entries per day, though entries over 140 will still be entered into the competition.” That’s a recommended R1 050 worth of entries a day.
South African National Lotteries Board spokesperson Sershan Naidoo told me the board had received complaints about Brain Box and was investigating.