MEF sets code for SMS voting

Hoping to head off any possible scandals that have plagued U.K. operators, the Mobile Entertainment Forum has introduced guidelines for SMS voting that it hopes will prevent fraud and errors in how votes are counted and charged for in participation television shows like American Idol.

Participation TV has become a huge phenomenon over the last few years, particularly in Europe, where viewers can use their mobile phones to call premium-rate numbers or send to text messages to vote in reality TV shows, enter contests, answer quizzes, and even questions to popular realty, game and talk shows. In the U.S., the craze is just starting to catch on particularly with the megahit show American Idol, where contestants can call or text in votes for their favorite performers. But premium SMS’s close cousin, premium phone calling has been popular in both countries for sometime.

But over the last year there have been several examples of premium SMS abuse U.K. television shows--overcharging for premium SMS messages, texts or automated phone votes not being counted, and other instances where customers phone or text entries simply disappeared into the ether despite being charged. For instance on the U.K.’s Channel 4, a popular daytime talk show Richard & Judy encouraged viewers to send in contest entries via SMS, giving them a chance to participate in the show’s You Say We Pay quiz. But even as the hosts were encouraging viewers to call in their entries for $2 a call, the contestants had already been selected, resulted in an estimated 35,000 people being cheated out of their money.

MEF general manager for the Americas Karen Allen said the controversy resulted in an enormous loss of confidence in the U.K. for participation TV, one Gfk study finding that 35% of people surveyed would not participate in voting or contest campaigns again. While such a controversy has yet to hit the U.S., Allen said that the MEF is trying to be pro-active by anticipating any sort of problems before they occur.

“Our intention has always been to make sure this doesn’t happen in the U.S.,” Allen said. “We don’t have any record of it happening in the U.S. so far, but I’m not sure if its because we’ve been more pro-active or we’ve just been lucky.”

The MEF’s code of practice lays out definitive guidelines for structuring participation TV campaigns with the aim of making the processes transparent—and ultimately auditable-- assigning the appropriate responsibility in case a problem does occur, and a framework for addressing viewers grievances. The code is not legally binding, but Allen said the MEF’s membership is all on board: the carriers, the broadcasters and the text aggregators such as Mblox and Telescope all have a vested interest in keeping consumer confidence in participation TV high. In the U.K. regulators have stepped into the melee due to the number of infractions and the size of the market (estimated to be in excess of $300 million), but Allen said the MEF hopes that regulation won’t be required in the U.S. if the industry agrees to keep itself in check.

The guidelines are still technically a draft. The full MEF membership will vote on them this summer