Ofcom rebukes S4C over multiple charges to viewers who voted in song contest

Martin Shipton

S4C has been rebuked by its regulator Ofcom for errors in the running of a TV song contest that resulted in viewers paying for multiple premium rate phone calls as they tried to cast their votes.

Nearly 80% of the votes cast in the broadcaster’s annual song contest Cân i Gymru, shown on St David’s Day 2024, were from phone lines that had voted more than once.

During the live broadcast, eight contestants each performed their own song and viewers were given the opportunity to vote by phone for their favourite entry or entries, during a voting window of just under half an hour, after which the winner was announced.

Technical problems

After complaints were made by viewers, the broadcaster was asked by Ofcom to explain what had gone wrong. S4C told the regulator: “Following our investigation into the matter, we discovered that there were technical problems with the voting system on the night. Those who called to register a vote were not issued with the pre-recorded message to confirm successful receipt of their vote. Consequently, many voters made further calls to attempt to register their vote and were charged for each call.”

Each call was charged at 25p, but additional access charges were not made clear to viewers.

S4C added: “Since then, we have launched a scheme to enable all callers who were charged for more than one call to claim a refund.”

As part of an on-screen graphic, viewers were told: “25p is the cost of a call from a landline. The cost can vary between suppliers and will be significantly higher from mobile phones”.

Issues

Ofcom considered the broadcast raised potential issues under three rules of the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.

Rule 2.13 states: “Broadcast competitions and voting must be conducted fairly”.

Rule 2.14 says: “Broadcasters must ensure that viewers and listeners are not materially misled about any broadcast competition or voting”.

Rule 9.30 reads: “The cost to viewers for using non-geographic telephony services must be made clear to them and broadcast as appropriate”.

Ofcom therefore requested comments from S4C on how the programme complied with these rules.

The broadcaster said the televoting system was provided by a third party, adding that eight phone lines were available for viewers to cast their votes.

App

Both S4C and the production company had access during the programme to an app that showed the number of calls received. The broadcaster confirmed that, “during the voting [period] on the night of the competition…S4C received comments on social media and through its viewers’ hotline stating that the voting system was not working”. It added that “this was checked by S4C through the app, which showed a significant number of votes being cast, so it seemed that the system was working properly”.

The broadcaster added: “No notification was received from the third-party provider that there was a fault with the system” and the contest therefore continued on the night, with the winner announced after the process of counting and verifying the votes for each contestant.

S4C said the telephone voting system had been designed to play a confirmation message to each caller once they had cast their vote, informing them that their vote had been registered, after which it would end the call. But it discovered that the confirmation message had not been played when voters had called to cast their phone votes. It added that this had left some viewers under the impression that their vote had not been recorded.

S4C confirmed that all calls were counted as valid votes. The broadcaster said it had therefore “decided to refund all individuals for all additional votes they had cast following their initial vote” for a particular contestant, which it publicised “on S4C’s website and social media sites as well as on the S4C television channel”.

Viewers hotline

It added that: on 14 March 2024, it also announced an S4C Viewer’s Hotline and “contacted each individual who had contact[ed] them to make a comment or complaint, to inform them of the refund system”; and viewers had “until May 312024 to submit a refund application in accordance with the guidelines set out”.

S4C said it also carried out a recount of the vote “on a ‘one call, one vote’ basis”, adding that “the same result ensued as the one announced live on television on the night” and clarifying that “the result was the same winner.”

In its ruling, Ofcom acknowledged that, in using the services of a third party to conduct the vote that took place in Cân i Gymru, S4C’s opportunity to detect and mitigate the effect of the voting system fault that occurred was limited. The regulator also acknowledged that S4C considered it had taken “all proper care with the choice of network and operating arrangements of the televoting system”.

However, Ofcom did not agree with S4C that the vote had been conducted fairly, stating: “In our view, any viewer who chose to vote may have believed their vote had not been registered, due to the lack of any acknowledgement to the contrary when they called the relevant number to place their vote. The data S4C provided confirmed that almost 80% of the votes recorded were multiple votes.

Ofcom disagreed with S4C’s conclusion that “on the balance of probabilities, the evidence shows that the [2024] result was fair and reliable”.

Misled

The regulator stated: “Ensuring that viewers are not materially misled about broadcast voting helps ensure audience trust in broadcasters and the material they broadcast. When a vote involves payment, it can also help to ensure that viewers do not suffer financial detriment.

“We noted that every call to vote (over any of the eight available voting lines) was charged at a premium rate of 25p, together with any other charges for which the caller may have been liable. In addition … every viewer who chose to vote and believed their vote had not been registered, due to the lack of any acknowledgement to the contrary when they called the relevant number to place their vote, was left unaware that they had voted.

“In Ofcom’s view: any such viewer had been misled as a result of the lack of information provided; and, in the event that they then called in an ‘attempt’ to vote again, had suffered financial detriment as a consequence.

“Ofcom took into account both S4C’s subsequent apology “for the fact that viewers did not receive a message confirming that their vote had been received” and its acceptance “that an element of unintentional misleading occurred”.

“However, even though the broadcaster considered it had ‘acted quickly in ensuring that no one was at a loss financially’ and had not acted negligently or unfairly, we disagreed with its conclusion that there was therefore ‘no basis…to conclude that S4C has undermined viewers’ trust or caused offence’.

Ofcom concluded that three of the rules in its Broadcasting Code had indeed been broken. It ended its ruling by reminding all broadcasters that they are ultimately responsible for all the material they broadcast, adding: “We therefore welcome the actions taken by S4C to avoid recurrence.”