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9Live is a commercial German TV channel. It originated from a channel called tm3. Most of its programming is lottery and quiz games, in which the viewer can participate over the phone. A television station is a type of radio station that broadcasts both audio and video to television receivers in a particular area. ...
The channel finances itself mainly through money paid for the phone calls. Independently of whether the calling party will have the chance to talk to the quiz host, they will pay 49 euro cent to call from Germany or 70 cents from Austria. The CEO, Christiane zu Salm, sees the channel as "participation TV" ("Mitmachfernsehen"). The euro (€; ISO 4217 code EUR) is the currency of twelve European Union member states: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. ...
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. Gambling is not allowed on German television. In court, 9Live defended itself with the argument that a phone call does not cost more than sending a postcard to advertisement-financed lotteries of magazines and TV-shows, which themselves are considered a "Gewinnspiel". Gambling (or betting) is any behavior involving risking money or valuables (making a wager or placing a stake) on the outcome of a game, contest, or other event in which the outcome of that activity depends partially or totally upon chance or upon ones ability to do something. ...
A lottery is a popular form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize. ...
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 deceiving 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 when it announced 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 - [1] post about lottery law in Germany (German)
- [2] German wikipedia entry from January 2005
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