ITV Play

NOTE: this was imported from Disastruous TV Networks & Channels Wiki but with minor changes.

ITV Play
Well, how about ITV Buffoon?
Genre: Game show network Country: United Kingdom Release Date: 19 April 2006 - 13 March 2007 Distributed by: ITV plc

ITV Play was a short-lived brand from ITV plc that operated as a strand on ITV1 and ITV2 from March 2006-December 2007, and as a dedicated network from April 2006-March 2007. The brand was retired following the 2007 British premium-rate phone-in scandal.

It was launched as a standalone channel on Freeview (taking on the slot which was previously occupied by the Men & Motors channel) on 19 April 2006 and started broadcasting on the Sky platform on 24 July 2006.

The ITV Play channel was created in response to and hoping to cash in on the popularity of late night quiz shows on the ITV Network and ITV2 such as Quizmania and The Mint. ITV Play also offered additional gambling services on their website.

It cost at least 75p per call to participate. This charge was made even if the caller was not put through to the studio. A free entry route was available through the website. Users were restricted to 150 calls/web entries in a 24-hour period. At peak times callers had a 1 in 8500 chance of getting through to the studio to play.

Shows on the channel/strand

• The Call - A standard phone-in segment where guests must say the phrase: "ITV is the Place to Play" (In-house)
• The Common Room - A chat show with a phone-in puzzle segment. It eventually turned into a text-only chat show. (In-House)
• The Daily Quiz! - A gossip-based show with two presenters - one answered calls, the other read out whatever was going on that day. It had been airing on ITV and Men & Motors before the launch of ITV Play and was removed after its production company was caught ignoring all incoming calls for long periods, charging players in the process.
• The Debbie King Show - The shortest-lived of ITV Play's programs, running for only a single day in March 2007 just before the channel's closure.
• Glitterball - A similar show to The Mint, but was exclusively a phone-in show. It survived the phone-in scandals and ran until September 2007.
• Glitterball Extra - A spin-off that was scrapped after seven episodes.
• Make Your Play - Was produced on a higher budget than most of ITV Play's programming, and was able to give out over £3 million by July 2007. As shown here, it was another show that survived the phone-in scandals. (In-House)
• The Mint - A celebrity-focused Game Show that aired late at night. This was one of the few ITV Play shows to feature live contestants although it still heavily focused on phone-in games.
• The Mint Extra - A spin-off to The Mint that had smaller prizes and aired pre-watershed.
• Playalong - A simple text-based game, normally used as filler on the channel. (In-House)
• Play DJ - A similar show to Playalong but is led by a presenter.
• Playdate - A speed-dating show.
• Quizmania - ITV Play's flagship series that had previously aired on other networks. It was another show that was able to survive the scandal in one form or another as an online service.
• Rovers Return Quiz - A pub quiz game set within the titular pub from Coronation Street. (In-House)
• The School Run - A game based on the then-ITV owned "Friends United" website. (In-House)
• This Morning Puzzle Book - A quiz show spin-off of This Morning with large cash prizes. It was the first show to air on the channel when it launched. (In-House)
• The Zone - A similar show to Make Your Play, only lasted six episodes before the scandal hit. (In-House)

Why It Wasn't Worth A Play

1. The whole concept of ITV Play was an obvious attempt at ITV to cash in on the Phone-In Game Show craze, similar to Quiz Call and the game show BrainTeaser on Channel 5 (Five at the time BrainTeaser was broadcasted). This backfired heavily following the scandals.
2. All the shows from this strand and later the channel were only phone-in interactive quiz shows, leaving very little variety no matter what the show was.
   • Many of them can go too far on the "obscure" rate. During the phone-in scandals, there were complaints made that one of the strand's programmes claimed that "rawlplugs (wallplugs)" and a "balaclava" were items a woman would have in her handbag. Really?!
     • Well, this example led to Ofcom fining ITV for making their quizzes too obscure.
3. The 75p per call rate was made very clear and strict, as viewers were charged for every call they made wherever they were connected to the studio or not, and even if the phone lines were unable to connect, which is nothing more than a borderline scam.
4. The strand was heavily criticised by the CMS Committee, who stated that the nature of the shows was pressure to make more people pay to call in, making it feel like gambling.
5. There were many restrictions put on the number of attempts to call. Only 150 calls could be placed on the channel per day, mean that in a 24-hour period BT landline callers could still spend a maximum of £112.50.
   • In February 2007, this was reduced to 100 calls per day, so the maximum was £75 a day on BT landlines.
6. It was very common that phone calls would not properly connect to ITV Play, as there was a 1 in 8,500 chance the call could be reached by the studio.

The Only Redeeming Quality

1. Some of the shows were entertaining, in the "So Bad, It's Good" way.

Trivia

• The channel itself is so obscure that many of its shows are lost.

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