Post by uptowndragon on Sept 29, 2006 12:57:56 GMT 7
No rigging, 8tv assures viewers
-by Shuhaidah Saharani -
MANY fans of One In A Million contestants Faizal and Alif were not too happy last Friday when, during the ¡¥live¡¦ show, they could not get their votes
in.
Crying foul, some of them had accused 8TV of either rigging the results in favour of eventual winner Suki, or having an inferior SMS collection and tabulating system.
However, 8TV chief executive offi cer Ahmad Izham Omar said the congestion that started about 10pm was unavoidable due to the surge of SMS votes through all three cell phone operators.
¡§I¡¦d like to apologise to the public for the problems we had with the SMS voting system,¡¨ he said. ¡§I wish it didn¡¦t happen, but it did.¡¨ He added that the response from 8TV viewers during the two-hour grand fi nale was overwhelming.
Azli Paat, executive vicepresident of Dapat Vista (M) Sdn Bhd, the company that provided the SMS voting system for the show defended the system.
¡§The SMS system is basically the same system found in many other mass-SMS applications like Malaysian Idol and Polis Saman,¡¨ he said. ¡§It¡¦s an industry standard.¡¨ Azli denied rumours that the results were leaked to some members of the public before they were formally announced.
¡§Dapat Vista has signed a confi dentiality agreement with 8TV which prohibits our employees, even those stationed at 8TV monitoring the SMS tally, from divulging any information to anyone,¡¨ he said.
Izham said at 8TV, only he had access to the results before they were announced.
¡§Even then, I usually ignore it. So, if you hear anyone saying that they know the results, it¡¦s all speculation.¡¨ He added that despite the technical hiccup, after taking into account the uncounted votes, it didn¡¦t affect the outcome of the show.
¡§Suki is the outright and deserving winner of One In A Million,¡¨ said Izham. ¡§She led from start to fi nish.
¡§Faizal staged a strong challenge, overtaking Alif but did not collect enough votes to overcome the eventual winner when the voting period closed at 11.21pm.¡¨ He said Dapat Vista will offer a refund to all 8TV voters whose unsuccessful votes were sent during the voting period, before 11.21pm on Sept 22.
Azli said: ¡§This refund is only valid to those who got the reply which said Voting closed, as it was charged accordingly. We¡¦re taking this action because we want to be honest to the voters.¡¨ Affected voters are advised to log onto www.dapat.com/oiam and provide their full name, cell phone number, name of bank and bank account number.
All refunds will be made within 30 days. Dapat Vista will also maintain a hotline at 03-55692840 (24 hours) and 03-55692755 (offi ce hours) to handle all inquiries.
¡§At the end of the day, I believe the show is a success, despite the problems. We found at least two good singers who have attracted not only singing and recording offers, but also endorsements,¡¨ said Izham.
He also promised to work on fi nding a better way to counter this problem for season two.
-by Shuhaidah Saharani -
MANY fans of One In A Million contestants Faizal and Alif were not too happy last Friday when, during the ¡¥live¡¦ show, they could not get their votes
in.
Crying foul, some of them had accused 8TV of either rigging the results in favour of eventual winner Suki, or having an inferior SMS collection and tabulating system.
However, 8TV chief executive offi cer Ahmad Izham Omar said the congestion that started about 10pm was unavoidable due to the surge of SMS votes through all three cell phone operators.
¡§I¡¦d like to apologise to the public for the problems we had with the SMS voting system,¡¨ he said. ¡§I wish it didn¡¦t happen, but it did.¡¨ He added that the response from 8TV viewers during the two-hour grand fi nale was overwhelming.
Azli Paat, executive vicepresident of Dapat Vista (M) Sdn Bhd, the company that provided the SMS voting system for the show defended the system.
¡§The SMS system is basically the same system found in many other mass-SMS applications like Malaysian Idol and Polis Saman,¡¨ he said. ¡§It¡¦s an industry standard.¡¨ Azli denied rumours that the results were leaked to some members of the public before they were formally announced.
¡§Dapat Vista has signed a confi dentiality agreement with 8TV which prohibits our employees, even those stationed at 8TV monitoring the SMS tally, from divulging any information to anyone,¡¨ he said.
Izham said at 8TV, only he had access to the results before they were announced.
¡§Even then, I usually ignore it. So, if you hear anyone saying that they know the results, it¡¦s all speculation.¡¨ He added that despite the technical hiccup, after taking into account the uncounted votes, it didn¡¦t affect the outcome of the show.
¡§Suki is the outright and deserving winner of One In A Million,¡¨ said Izham. ¡§She led from start to fi nish.
¡§Faizal staged a strong challenge, overtaking Alif but did not collect enough votes to overcome the eventual winner when the voting period closed at 11.21pm.¡¨ He said Dapat Vista will offer a refund to all 8TV voters whose unsuccessful votes were sent during the voting period, before 11.21pm on Sept 22.
Azli said: ¡§This refund is only valid to those who got the reply which said Voting closed, as it was charged accordingly. We¡¦re taking this action because we want to be honest to the voters.¡¨ Affected voters are advised to log onto www.dapat.com/oiam and provide their full name, cell phone number, name of bank and bank account number.
All refunds will be made within 30 days. Dapat Vista will also maintain a hotline at 03-55692840 (24 hours) and 03-55692755 (offi ce hours) to handle all inquiries.
¡§At the end of the day, I believe the show is a success, despite the problems. We found at least two good singers who have attracted not only singing and recording offers, but also endorsements,¡¨ said Izham.
He also promised to work on fi nding a better way to counter this problem for season two.
