SMS in Television

Text messaging, Radio Tie-in - Mar 10 2004

Detroit's WDRQ radio station is offering it's evening listeners the opportunity to make or break a song, by voting on whether a certain single should should become a hit or a miss - by sending a text message to a designated short code.

RCR News

Showtime Launches SMS Text Service for Ordering Home Cinema Pay-per-view Movies - Nov 24 2003

Television uses text messaging in more ways than one, and not just for viewer voting.

Leading digital pay-television network Showtime for the Middle East, has just launched Home Cinema Text, an SMS text service that enables subscribers to order their personal selection of pay-per-view movies via text messaging, according to AME info.

On a related note, multicultural broadcaster SBS Television Australia has just started a SMS service to remind viewers when their favourite programs are about to go to air. Each program has a four-digit SMS alert code which are available on the TV schedule page. The reminder will be sent an hour before the show is screened.

Reality TV Rolls out "Biggest Yet" SMS Promotion - Oct 16 2003

Universal Domestic Television is jumping on the text messaging bandwagon with the launch of what it's calling the largest yet cross-carrier short messaging promotion in the U.S., for its syndicated reality dating show, The 5th Wheel, according to Internet News.

"Beginning with the show's October 16 telecast and continuing for four weeks, viewers with SMS-enabled phones will be able to enter a contest by sending a text message to a five-digit code.

A series of promotional spots during the show will prompt viewers to opt-in to the promotion. Participants will receive reminders about the show and can play for prizes, including a Porsche Boxster.

The contest differs from the SMS promotion launched for American Idol earlier this year because that show, which according to its producers garnered over 8 million text messages, was sponsored by just one carrier."

Public Opinion through Text Messaging - Aug 28 2003

The BBC's Watchdog program made history this week, becoming the first British television show to gauge public opinion by text message, on the Measles, Mumps and Rubella Vaccine (MMR) vaccine. 1,814 members of the Watchdog panel responded to the questions on MMR with half thinking the MMR vaccine was safe, and a quarter thinking it was unsafe, according to Daily Research Online.