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"Voting Time Doubled for 'American Idol' Finale"
shedevil 1 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "American Cancer Society Spokesperson"
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05-19-04, 02:01 AM (EST)
 
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"Voting Time Doubled for 'American Idol' Finale" |
LAST EDITED ON 05-19-04 AT 02:04 AM (EST)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -
"American Idol" plans to double the amount of phone voting time for next week's hotly anticipated finale to counter the problem of jammed lines as millions of callers try to get through.
Fox TV and "American Idol" producers, whose voting procedures have been questioned after two shock exits from the wannabe pop star contest, said viewers would have four hours to call in or text message their votes after the May 25 face-off between the final two singers.
They also defended the fairness of the voting system and said that "power dialers" who set up repeat calls for one contestant "can be identified and discounted."
"An independent company manages and tallies the ("American Idol") votes each week ensuring fairness. The reporting systems used are secure and there are multiple fail safes to ensure that the figures reported are accurate," Fox TV said in a statement.
The magazine Broadcasting & Cable reported this week that technology was thwarting the ultimate experiment in show business democracy because phone lines were so overtaxed that millions of voters were unable to get through.
The magazine also claimed that power dialers were able to skew the votes and votes sent by text-message had an unfair advantage because they use higher-capacity digital technology than analog phone lines.
Broadcasting & Cable Editor-in-Chief Max Robins said on Tuesday his publication was not suggesting the network or producers were deliberately manipulating the vote.
"This is not a quiz show scandal," Robins told Reuters. "They're getting the votes the best they can given the system they've got, but technology is thwarting democracy on 'American Idol."'
In its statement Fox said, "It has always been our plan for next week's finale to open the lines for an unprecedented four-hour voting period to alleviate congestion."
"American Idol," now in its third season, has been a huge ratings success attracting more than 20 million viewers and an equivalent number of recorded votes each week.
Teenagers Jasmine Trias, Fantasia Barrino and Diana DeGarmo are still in the running for a recording contract and instant stardom. But the surprise departures of strong singers Jennifer Hudson last month, and La Toya London last week while shakier singers stayed in the competition put the voting system under renewed scrutiny.
"American Idol" producers urge viewers to vote often and en masse to ensure their favorites stay in the competition.
"While acknowledging that dedicated fans may be unhappy with the outcome, the system only reports the decision of the voting public," Fox TV and the show's producers said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=638&ncid=638&e=5&u=/nm/20040518/en_nm/leisure_idol_dc_1 
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PagongRatEater 12996 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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05-19-04, 01:55 PM (EST)
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2. "telecommunications 101" |
While it is possible that Fox could limit the number of phone lines available to Jasmine, it is highly unlikely that they would do so. It would be very easily identifiable and they would have to do so through the phone company.Just to clarify something that seems to be significantly mis-understood. Fox could have an UNLIMITED number of "lines" available for callers to get through but the phone system only has a limited amount of capacity. Ever try to call a family member during some kind of disaster and you are simply unable to ever get through only to find out that they weren't on the phone - it's the same thing. When you dial an 8YY number, it is routed to an actual real phone number (potentially several, but I don't believe that is the case here). Your phone will connect to the local Central Office (CO) and find the path of least resistance across the Public Telephone Network (PTN) to the local CO where the call is terminated. There are potentially several logjams along this route, but typically either the ingress or egress CO is a choke point. If 25M people all tried calling the same CO at the same time a very limited number of them could get through. Also, each carrier only has a specific amount of bandwidth for Inter-exchange (long distance) traffic, which according to the "flaws" article comes into play here as well. Hope that helps without being too technical, but the problem is NOT the number of lines, it is simply issue with total capacity along the PTN and at the local CO level. All that being said, an additional two hours will not fix the problem. Open it for 12 hours and you might get a more representative same. Personally, I like one-man, one-vote but if it is going to continue to be unlimited it should be open for much more time than even four hours - at least as we get deeper into the competition. 
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seahorse 14337 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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05-19-04, 02:32 PM (EST)
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3. "RE: Voting Time Doubled for 'American Idol' Finale" |
LAST EDITED ON 05-19-04 AT 02:33 PM (EST)If Jasmine makes it to the finals, IMHO she will win based on four hours voting time frame. Here is why, from 9 PM Eastern/ 8 PM Central to 12 midnite Eastern / 11 PM Central these two time zones will be competing to get their votes in (approx 160 million people). From 12 midnight Eastern to 1AM Eastern, the Mountain and Pacific time zones will also, be competing to get through on the phone lines, (approximately 280 millin people). From 10 PM Pacific / 11 PM Mountain to 1 AM Pacific / 12 midnight Mountain approximately 120 million people from these two time zones will be competing to get through the phone lines. For the next four hours after this Hawaii will be all by itself trying to get through the phone lines, (approximately 1.2 million people). Their vote will be much more likely to get counted since the total # of callers is like 1 % of the total # of callers during the first seven hours of calls. I could be off by an hour or so in my assumption, but the bottom line is that the Hawaiin people willing be voting in droves and their votes are much more likely to get through, so Jasmine has a decided edge in a 4 hour voting duration. She has an advantage in the two hour voting duration also, but in a two hour voting scenario you will never have all 4 Continental US time zones voting at the same time as you will during the first hour after the show ends in the Pacific time zone. I think this will allow her to win the competion, by problems in the voting system.
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ulalame 778 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Fitness Correspondent"
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05-19-04, 08:20 PM (EST)
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6. "RE: Voting Time Doubled for 'American Idol' Finale" |
Hopefully, Jazzy will not BE in the final two, so this won't be an issue. If she is, I think you've got a valid point.
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seahorse 14337 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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05-20-04, 12:25 PM (EST)
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8. "RE: Voting Time Doubled for 'American Idol' Finale" |
Since she did not make it to the finals, we will never know.
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seahorse 14337 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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05-20-04, 12:28 PM (EST)
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9. "RE: Voting Time Doubled for 'American Idol' Finale" |
To be really fair they would leave the lines open for a day or so, and then have the results show a few days later.
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