After an annus horribilis for phone in competitions there’s some good news to start 2008! The BBC have decided to resume premium rate phone in competitions (for example Goal of the Month on Match of the Day and Popmaster on Radio 2), however call costs are capped at just 15p! The news follows publication of The BBC’s new code of conduct for competitions which put in simple terms means “every entry to a contest should have a fair chance of winning” and that winners should be genuine”.
Fined £1.5Million!
There’s currently no news if online competitions will also resume, however BBC local radio prize draws had been in decline well before the phone in scandals were unveiled. BBC Film, Drama and Sport competitions were also few and far between. It may well be that with the low premium rate entry costs online competitions will be replaced by promotion of these competitions. The BBC are the last of the TV companies to resume competitions. GMTV are back running online prize draws, whilst ITV now offer free online entry routes for their premium rate competitions that appear on the likes of This Morning and Saturday Cooks. Channel 4 who were recently fined £1.5million for problems with Deal or No Deal and Richard and Judy competitions have axed all premium rate competitions.