9Live
9Live is a commercial german TV channel. It originated from a channel called tm3. Most of the program consists of lottery and quiz games, in which the viewer can participate over the phone.
The channel finances itself mainly through the money paid for the phone calls. Independently of whether the calling party will have the chance to talk to the quiz host, he will pay 49 euro cent to call from Germany, 0.90 CHF (appr. 60 cents) from Swizerland or 70 cents from Austria. The CEO Christiane zu Salm herself sees the channel as "participation tv" ("Mitmachfernsehen").
The games are legally controversial. In german law, there is the distinction between "Glücksspiel" (gambling) and "Gewinnspiel" (lottery), the latter theoretically being gambling without money being bet. In court, 9Live defended itself with the argument, that a phone call doesn't cost more than sending a postcard in advertisement-financed lotteries of magazines and tv-shows, which themselves are considered a "Gewinnspiel".
The total revenue of 9Live was 60.6 million euro in the year 2002 and 78.7 million in 2003. For comparison, during broadcast the channel proudly claims to have paid out close to one million euro in november 2004 alone.
Criticism
Critics accuse 9Live of conciously deceiting people about their chances, for example by deliberately keeping the rules of the quiz vague, alternating them randomly and rarely explaining them even if a solution is presented.
The channel attracted attention to itself, as it announced to host a "show for the unemployed", in which the caller had the chance of winning employment. Minister of labour Walter Riester called the idea absurd and cynical.
Sources
Links
- 9Live-Homepage (german)
- Abzocke mit undurchsichtigen Spielregeln? Critical clip as part of the tv magazine ARD (TV) plusminus (german)
- article of "Report Mainz" about the planned show for the unemployed (german)