Play TV (Ireland)
| Play TV | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Telemedia InteracTV |
| Starring | Derval Mellett, Fiona Mulhall, Lauren Bannon, JG Murphy and Aoife Baker. |
| Country of origin | Hungary |
| No. of episodes | 160 (as of 1 November 2009) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Telemedia InteracTV |
| Running time | For 3 hours every night, 12am to 3am. Sometimes starts later especially at weekends. Starts every night by 12.30am latest. |
| Release | |
| Original network | TV3 (Ireland) |
| Original release | 25 May 2009 – 6 March 2010 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Psychic Readings Live |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Play TV is a late night/early morning phone-in quiz show produced by Telemedia InteracTV and broadcast by TV3 Ireland from May 2009 – March 2010. The show was broadcast live every night of the week, Monday to Sunday, from 12:00am to 3:00am from InteracTV's headquarters in Budapest, Hungary. The programme was very controversial, with numerous complaints against it made to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
TV3, however, justified it by saying they got money from PlayTV which saved jobs from being lost during the recession. Two years after TV3 removed Play TV from its schedules, it began to air Psychic Readings Live in the same slot. Newspaper reports compared the controversy generated by Psychic Readings Live to Play TV, with one saying "it will remind TV3 of a past life".
While the show was on air, viewers were encouraged to call a premium rate number in order to give solutions to puzzles being put to them by the presenters. However, there was no guarantee that callers would get through to the studio, although they were still charged the full cost of the call.
According to TV3, there was a limit of 50 calls per night or 300 calls per month that could be made by any one person. However the accuracy of this statement seems to be in some doubt, as one person has claimed to have made 170 calls in one night at a cost of €370.
However, according to "terms and conditions" on the playtv website, "The daily limit is 40 calls."
The games ranged from spot the difference, to making a word out of jumbled up letters, to guessing words when given a clue. The word guessing game required viewers to identify an obscure object based on its colour, or where it might be found.
The programme had a number of presenters over its run. The original presenters were J(ohn) G(erard) Murphy (who left in November 2009), Derval Mellett (who left in August 2009, but returned when J G Murphy departed) and Fiona Mulhall. Mulhall, who had previously hosted IWW Wrestling as "Fiona Fox", presented the last show on the night of Friday, 5 March 2010. Presenters who joined during the show's run were Lauren Bannon, who worked on the programme from July 2009 to January 2010 and Aoife Baker who became a presenter in January 2010.
On 21 September 2009, callers to Joe Duffy's Liveline complained about the phone charges and methods surrounding TV3's late night quiz show Play TV. Joe Duffy had users of the Play TV service discussing the problems with this type of show. Joe stated that many of his listeners and callers to the show had not got a satisfactory reply from TV3 in relation to their complaints and hence his reason for this section of the his show, TV3 were unwilling to be a part of the discussion show having been asked by RTÉ Radio. According to Joe Duffy the Regulator is not interested in this television show and is of the view that it is quite legitimate. Some of the contestants had not been paid their prize money. One caller explains Play TV to Joe Duffy: -
...
Wikipedia