South African pay-TV broadcaster M-Net is still conducting a technical investigation into the reasons for the delayed receipt of sms votes for its reality show Idols, which saw Sasha Lee Davids pronounced winner on 3 May, when her rival Jason Hartman actually received the most votes.
Once the report is complete, it will be shared with all M-Net service providers. An M-Net statement issued to the press on 14 May reads: “M-Net’s focus is not on blaming any service provider but on understanding fully the causes of system latency in parts of the delivery chain so that the broadcaster can learn lessons that need to be applied in future Idols competitions’.
In the meantime, M-Net Channel Director: General Entertainment, Theo Erasmus has said that it’s been important for M-Net to resolve all the issues that stemmed from the vote recount as quickly and fairly as possible. “The viewer competition proved to be particularly tricky as we have to ensure that people who cast legitimate votes since the start of entries on Sunday, 8 March until the competition closed on Sunday 3, May have an equal chance of winning the car now.’
To this end M-Net will hold an additional prize draw for the Idols Viewer Competition. Another Idols fan will stand the chance of winning a Citroen C1 in the draw that will also include the more than 600 000 delayed valid votes that did not reach them before the cut-off time during the Idols final on Sunday, 3 May.
The draw will be done next week to coincide with an event during which Idols winner Jason Hartman, will receive his prizes from the Idols sponsors. The handover of Sasha Lee Davids’ prizes took place at a media event after the Idols final on Sunday, 3 May.
