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2007 British Premium-rate Phone-in Scandal
The 2007 British premium-rate phone-in scandal, sometimes referred to in the press as simply the phone-in scandal relates to a series of controversies regarding the use of premium-rate telephone numbers (or PRS) by several British television and radio broadcasters. The first revelations began in February 2007, regarding the Channel 4 television programme ''Richard & Judy''. However, over the following weeks, more allegations emerged regarding misconduct by major British broadcasters including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. The programmes affected included phone-in competitions and public votes conducted over a period of several years, dating back to 2001. As a result, adjudicators Ofcom and ICSTIS (now known as Phone-paid Services Authority) conducted several investigations, resulting in millions of pounds worth of fines and a reform in the use of PRS by broadcasters. Background Pre-2007 There had been some investigations into the use of PRS in television programmes in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Premium-rate Telephone Number
Premium-rate telephone numbers are telephone numbers that charge callers higher price rates for select services, including information and entertainment. A portion of the call fees is paid to the service provider, allowing premium calls to be an additional source of revenue for businesses. Tech support, psychic hotlines, and adult chat lines (e.g. dating and phone sex) are among the most popular kinds of premium-rate phone services. Other services include directory enquiries, weather forecasts, competitions and ratings televoting (especially relating to television shows). Diplomatic services, such as the US Embassy in London or the UK Embassy in Washington, have also charged premium rates for calls from the general public. Premium calls are typically routed like toll-free numbers, and service providers can be located independent of the area code. These telephone numbers are usually allocated based on a national telephone numbering plan that makes them easily distinguishable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The X Factor (British Series 3)
''The X Factor'' is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The third series was broadcast on ITV from 19 August 2006 until 16 December 2006. Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Simon Cowell all returned for their third series on the judging panel. Kate Thornton returned to present the main show on ITV, while Ben Shephard returned to present spin-off show '' The Xtra Factor'' on ITV2. After the semi-final on 9 December, Cowell became the winning judge even though the series had not yet finished, as two of his acts, Ray Quinn and Leona Lewis, became the two finalists. Lewis won the series on 16 December, with Quinn finishing as runner-up. Instead of the earlier red and purple colour scheme, this year's theme was red and blue. A new-look website for the third series was launched on 11 August 2006. The final on 16 December brought in the show's then-highest ever audience, with 12.6 million people tuning in (a 56% audience share), and 8 million votes were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deloitte
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professionals in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms along with EY (Ernst & Young), KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). The firm was founded by William Welch Deloitte in London in 1845 and expanded into the United States in 1890. It merged with Haskins & Sells to form Deloitte Haskins & Sells in 1972 and with Touche Ross in the US to form Deloitte & Touche in 1989. In 1993, the international firm was renamed Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, later abbreviated to Deloitte. In 2002, Arthur Andersen's practice in the UK as well as several of that firm's practices in Europe and North and South America agreed to merge with Deloitte. Subsequent acquisitions have included Monitor Group, a large strategy consulting business, in Janu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
''Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' (referred to simply as ''Saturday Night Takeaway'' or ''SNT'') is a British television variety show, created and presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as Ant & Dec), and broadcast on ITV1 since its premiere on 8 June 2002, enduring a four-year hiatus between 2009 and 2013, while its presenters worked on other projects. The show's format, heavily influenced by previous Saturday night light entertainment shows such as ''Noel's House Party'', '' Opportunity Knocks'' and ''Don't Forget Your Toothbrush'', focuses on a mixture of live and pre-recorded entertainment and quiz segments, including an audience-based quiz involving the television adverts during a week's episode of one of ITV's programmes, and a competition in each series between the two presenters. The programme proved an immense success for the broadcaster since its launch, earning several awards including Most Popular Entertainment Programme at the N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gameshow Marathon (British Game Show)
''Gameshow Marathon'' is a British game show, broadcast on ITV from 17 September 2005 to 26 May 2007. After a quick retrospective look at the history of the particular show, the show itself is recreated. This involves recreating the original set and using original opening programme titles, including the appropriate producer ident (excluding ''Blankety Blank''). All participants are celebrities, and any prizes won go into a "Viewer Prize Mountain" which is awarded to a viewer via a phone-in competition. Series 1 (2005) ''Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon'' is a seven-episode special event aired in 2005 on Britain's ITV Network, as part of a celebration of ITV's 50th anniversary. In it, hosts Ant & Dec presided over recreations of seven classic game shows that had been seen on the network. Six celebrity contestants competed in a series-long tournament, receiving a donation to their favourite charity for their participation. In addition, home viewers were given the opportunity to win ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (British Game Show)
''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' is a British television quiz show, created by David Briggs for ITV. The programme's format sees contestants taking on multiple-choice questions based upon general knowledge, winning a cash prize for each question they answer correctly, with the amount offered increasing as they take on more difficult questions. If an incorrect answer is given, the contestant will leave with whatever cash prize is guaranteed by the last safety net they have passed, unless they opt to walk away before answering the next question with the money the cash prize they had managed to reach. To assist in the quiz, contestants are given a series of "lifelines" to help answer questions. The series originally aired from 4 September 1998 to 11 February 2014 and was presented by Chris Tarrant, airing a total of 592 episodes across 30 series. The original format was tweaked in later years, which included changing the number of questions asked, altering the payout structure, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dancing On Ice
''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their professional partners figure skating in front of a panel of judges. The series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV, started on 14 January 2006 and ended on 9 March 2014 after the contract was not renewed by ITV. On 4 September 2017, it was announced that a revived series would air on ITV from 7 January 2018 with Schofield and Willoughby returning as hosts. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean assumed new roles as head judges, alongside original judge Jason Gardiner and new judge Ashley Banjo. In 2020, John Barrowman replaced Gardiner as a judge, however on 3 October 2021, it was announced that Barrowman would not be returning to the judging panel. His replacement was later announced as ''Strictly Come Dancing'' professional Oti Mabuse. During the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soapstar Superstar
''Soapstar Superstar'' is a British talent show that aired on ITV from 6 January 2006 to 13 January 2007. The show's format works in a similar format to that of ''Pop Idol'' and ''The X Factor'', in that the competition features a group of soap opera actors performing in front of a celebrity panel of judges, with the weakest performers being eliminated when they receive the fewest votes from the judges and a public vote. Unlike these shows, the audience decides upon the song contestants sung in the next round, with the eliminated contestant joining the judging panel for that episode to save one of the other contestants and decide on which song they would sing next. Presenters and judges The first series was hosted by Fern Britton and Ben Shephard, with Jayne Middlemiss and Duncan James hosting a companion show for the series on ITV2, entitled ''Soapstar Superstar: Extra Tracks''. For the second series, the show was presented by Zoe Ball, with the ITV2 companion show, retitled as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smile (British TV Series)
''Smile'' was a British Sunday morning children's programme created by production company Darrall Macqueen for CBBC. It first aired in 2002 and was originally shown on the CBBC Channel. It was moved to BBC Two to make way for ''Dick & Dom in da Bungalow''. Although ''Dick and Dom'' finished in 2006, ''Smile'' never moved back to the CBBC Channel. The final programme was broadcast on 26 August 2007, from 7:30 until 10:00 on BBC Two. History Primarily a children's magazine programme featuring celebrity guests, ''Smile'' also encouraged audience participation through competitions and games. It won an Indie Award for its interactivity, going on later to win two Children's BAFTAs. A number of cartoons and other programme acquisitions were transmitted during ''Smile'' on a rotational basis. Principally these included: ''Arthur'', ''Batfink'', ''BB3B'', ''Even Stevens'', ''Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks'', '' Legend of the Dragon'' and '' The Likeaballs''. When the show f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Peter
''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Television Centre in London until September 2011, when the programme moved to dock10 studios at MediaCityUK in Salford, Greater Manchester. It is currently shown live on the CBBC television channel on Fridays at 5pm. The show is also repeated on Saturdays at 11:30am, Sundays at 9:00am and a BSL version is shown on Tuesdays at 2:00pm. Following its original creation, the programme was developed by a BBC team led by Biddy Baxter; she became the programme editor in 1965, relinquishing the role in 1988. Throughout the show's history there have been 41 presenters; currently, it is hosted by Richie Driss, Mwaksy Mudenda and Joel Mawhinney. The show uses a nautical title and theme. Its content, which follows a magazine/entertainment format, featur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I'm A Celebrity
''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' is a British reality TV series in which a number of celebrities live together in a jungle environment for a number of weeks, competing to be crowned "King" or "Queen of the Jungle". The show was originally created in the United Kingdom by Granada Television and produced by its subsidiary, ITV's then London franchise London Weekend Television (LWT) and developed by a team including James Allen, Natalka Znak, Brent Baker and Stewart Morris. The first episode aired on 25 August 2002 hosted by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, also known as Ant and Dec. It is now produced by ITV Studios and has been licensed globally to countries including the United States, Germany, France, Hungary, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Romania, Russia, Australia and India. Filming location The UK, German and the 2003 US versions of the series take place in New South Wales, Australia, at a permanently-built up camp and filming studios on a disuse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virgin Radio UK
Virgin Radio UK is a national Hot Adult Contemporary radio station in the United Kingdom that launched on 30 March 2016, owned by Wireless Group which is itself a subsidiary of News Corp. It is the second incarnation of Virgin Radio in the UK: the original station launched in 1993 before being rebranded as Absolute Radio in 2008. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 1.3 million listeners according to RAJAR. History The station launched at 11:00 on 30 March 2016 on a Virgin Trains service from Manchester to London by Edith Bowman and Matt Richardson and the first song played was a live cover version of David Bowie's song "Changes" by Gavin James. At launch, Virgin Radio UK broadcast to about 75% of the UK population via the Sound Digital DAB ensemble, and also broadcasts via online streaming to computers, mobile device applications and internet radios. It cannot be received outside of the UK. The broadcasts are presented live from 04:00 to 01:00, and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
