ITV Play

ITV Play
Ownership
Owner	ITV plc

ITV Play is a 24/7 participation television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV plc.

ITV Play launched on March 31 2006 at midnight on ITV1, with the first edition of The Mint. ITV2 also launched ITV Play on the same night with Quizmania (previously on ITV1). 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 Digital platform on 24 July 2006.

ITV Play was created in response to and hoping to cash-in on the popularity of late night quiz shows on ITV1 and ITV2 such as Quizmania, The Mint and Make Your Play. ITV Play also offers additional gambling services on their website.

It costs at least 75p to call ITV Play, this charge is made even if the caller is not put through to the studio. A free entry route is available through the website. Users are restricted to 150 calls/web entries in a 24 hour period.

According to QuizTelly.com, ITV Play is to axe its daytime output. This Morning Puzzle Book and The Call will both end on Friday 22nd December. This has been confirmed by ITV Play.

Shows

The Mint

The Mint is a live, late night, interactive quiz show with celebrity guests in a large extravagant set designed to look like the inside of a mansion. The show is presented by various presenters including Brian Dowling, Cat Porter, Craig Stevens and Mark Rumble.

Quizmania

Quizmania was the first phone-in quiz show produced for ITV. The success of this show was one of the main reasons ITV decided to branch out and create a dedicated channel for shows of this nature.

Make Your Play

Make Your Play is a interactive quiz show that airs on ITV1 and ITV Play in the early hours of the morning. It is an interactive show where viewers try their skill and judgement to win up to maybe £50,000. The host taking viewers' calls alternates between the two presenters during that night's show and those sharing that role have been Alex Kramer, Ben Baldwin and Zö Christien. It's one show that does without the ubiquitous on-screen clock unless the game is almost over and hears supposed messages to the presenter from the boss on occasions. The boss (pronounced 'bowss', is a ridiculous overtly cockney voice who insults the presenters and demands they give more cash away).^{[unbalanced opinion?]}

This Morning Puzzle Book

This Morning Puzzle Book is a quiz show on ITV Play. Puzzle Book was the first interactive quiz show to be shown on ITV Play. The show used to have games including Matchmaker, Picture Perfect, Bag Ladies, The Yes No Game and Wild in the Aisles. Matchmaker was usually extended into Super Matchmaker where there are five different words to find and Mega Matchmaker where there are fifteen words to find which either follow or go before a given word. Nowadays, the games played tend to be the same types. The most popular is a tower game with 10 answers. Mega Matchmaker, Wordsworth and a wordsearch are also played on a regular basis. The presenters include Zö Christien, Tim Dixon, Scott Wright, Carmel Thomas, Emma Lee, Rachel Roberts and Dave O'Reilly. The show ends its current series on 22nd December 2006

The Call

The Call is an interactive quiz show on ITV Play and Men & Motors. The presenters are Dave O'Reilly, Zö Christien and Emma Lee. The show contains brainteasers and other ways to win cash. It also has a feature called the Phrase that Pays and a winner could be made simply by answering their phone. If they get called up they are only allowed to say: ITV is the Place to Play (the Phrase that Pays) and not anything else. Otherwise, they will not win the prize money. The games include gridwords, in which the answers are potentially more easy to guess, because as well as the theme you also have the word length and sometimes extra letters. A more familiar game played is a Wormword. The show is currently having a break.

Play DJ

Play DJ is a text based quiz show that airs weekdays from 6pm - 8pm and on Weekends from 10am - 4.00pm Allowing players to to use the SMS service to contact the show or play the games. Play DJ allows viewers to play many different games these are Buzzwords, Izit which are a staple of sister show ITV Playalong. Viewers also can text in and vote for there favourite tunes to listean to. Presenters of the show include Nigel Mitchell, Ruth Frances and Amy Garcia.

The Mint Extra

The Mint Extra is similar to The Mint but is shown during the weekends on ITV Play. This version doesn't feature the trademark £100,000 jackpot, but instead uses the teapot jackpot, which players have to try to spell out the word 'minttea'.

On the 14th May 2006 the last show of the Extra Mint was shown, and was replaced at the time by Friends Reunited: The School Run. However, from 9th September 2006 the Mint Extra airs at a new time. It was previously shown daily in the early evenings. As pointed out by presenters on The Mint Extra, it is called The Mint Extra not Extra Mint like the show that was previously shown and cancelled.

Playalong

A texted based show featuring Buzzwords, Izit , Space Wars" & String Em In. Viewers scoring high enough in these games will gain free entry into The Bonus Ball Bonanza Jackpot where they can win upto £2000,ITV Playalong also has another game called Cash Quiz where you can win £10 if you are the highest scorer.

Defunct Shows

The Daily Quiz!

ITV Play showed The Daily Quiz!, which was also simulcast on Men & Motors in the afternoons every week day. One of The Daily Quiz's main presenters, Kat Shoob, is also a presenter on ITV Play's flagship programme, The Mint. The Daily Quiz! launched on the 13th March 2006.

On 19 May 2006, officers from the Fraud Squad raided the offices of BIG Game TV!, makers of The Daily Quiz! after a BBC Radio 4 investigation for the You and Yours programme found that receptionists were told to ignore all incoming calls for long periods of time while 150-200 calls per minute were clocked up at 75p a time. For this reason, The Daily Quiz! was dropped by ITV Play and is no longer in production.

The School Run

The School Run aired everyday between in the early evening (and on Mondays at 9 p.m.) it was hosted by either Tim Dixon, Emma Lee or Lawrie Jordon. Unlike the other ITV Play shows the School Run featured a text service where you could chat to the presenter or to other viewers.This show aired for the last time on 30 July 2006. It was replaced with The Common Room which has reached the end of its current run.

Rovers Return Quiz

This Coronation Street inspired pub quiz, based on the fictional public house, the Rovers Return Quiz first started in the evenings From 7pm onwards. For reasons unknown the show moved to weekdays at 2 p.m. to 3.p.m. The show comprised of two teams taking on callers to the show in order to win a jackpot prize. The show differed from the other quiz programmes in that it allowed more than one caller to take part at any one time. Viewers played along at home and answered multiple-choice questions on their phones. The highest scoring people got into the 'snug' where one caller was randomly selected. They automatically won £50 and took part in the 'Newton or Ridley' jackpot game. They had to guess which word, Newton or Ridley, is behind bottles of beer. Prizes included an extra £500, £1,000, £2,000 and £10,000 for people with lots of luck. Rovers Return Quiz aired for the last time on Friday 13 October 2006. It has been replaced by an extended version of This Morning Puzzle Book. Most of the presenters now present This Morning Puzzle Book.

ITV Play Bid

ITV Play Bid is not a show, but a reverse bid auction with clips shown during breaks between shows. Zö Christien, from This Morning Puzzle Book has been seen advertising it. Viewers bidded for a prize, which changed every few days and the only unique bid at the lowest price will win. Viewers can text in or phone up to bid for the prize.

Prizes ranged each week from £1,000 cash to home cinema systems. The reason for ITV Play Bid ending is unknown and hasn't been seen since Tuesday 31 October 2006.

The Common Room

The Common Room, aired for half an hour in the early evenings. The Common Room's main presenters were Tim Dixon, Emma Lee and Zö Christien. The Common Room launched on ITV Play on Monday 31st July. Unlike the rest of the ITV Play games, this was more of a chat show rather than playing games and rather than cash prizes, other prizes where up for grabs, such as an ITV Play T-Shirt,Pen and slinky for best text and for best photo normally either a MP3 Player or a Digital Camera. The first series of The Common Room aired for it's last time on Friday 10th November 2006. It is unknown whether there will be a second series of The Common Room.

Playdate

Playdate is a dating show that was originally broadcast on ITV2 with ITV Play's branding. Playdate allows members of the public to speed-date people on the programme via the phone or the Internet. The presenters are Brendan Courtney, Kat Shoob, Kate Lawler, Dave O'Reilly, Giles Vickers-Jones, Katy Pullinger and Zoe Hardman. Playdate was axed and finished on Sunday 17 December.

Criticisms

One of the criticisms of ITV Play is that it costs 75p to call the premium rate number used by ITV Play and costs even more from mobile phones. This fee is charged even if the person does not connect through to the studio. Also, ITV has promised to make its programmes with higher production values than quiz programs on other quiz channels. However the history is not uncheckered and the performance and ethics of ITV Play is under question as many of the callers are kept on hold and unable to connect. ^[1].

Also, the limited restrictions put on the number of attempts to call viewers can make in a 24 hour period still mean they can lose over £100 per day.

References

^ "Guardian Article: ITV channel under fire over quiz show tactics". Retrieved 2006-09-29.

External links

[1] "Guardian Article: ITV channel under fire over quiz show tactics". Retrieved 2006-09-29.

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