marty888

(from NY TIMES)

AT&T May Have Swayed ‘Idol’ Results


By EDWARD WYATT
Published: May 26, 2009
LOS ANGELES — AT&T, one of the biggest corporate sponsors of “American Idol,” might have influenced the outcome of this year’s competition by providing phones for free text-messaging services and lessons in casting blocks of votes at parties organized by fans of Kris Allen, the Arkansas singer who was the winner of the show last week.

American IdolRepresentatives of AT&T, whose mobile phone network is the only one that can be used to cast “American Idol” votes via text message, provided the free text-messaging services at two parties in Arkansas after the final performance episode of “American Idol” last week, according to the company and people at the events.

There appear to have been no similar efforts to provide free texting services to supporters of Adam Lambert, who finished as the runner-up to Mr. Allen.

Since then, angry supporters of Mr. Lambert have flooded online chat boards with messages claiming irregularities in the competition’s voting.

Officials of Fox Broadcasting declined to discuss the situation. In a statement issued Tuesday, a spokesman for AT&T said, “In Arkansas, we were invited to attend the local watch parties organized by the community. A few local employees brought a small number of demo phones with them and provided texting tutorials to those who were interested.”

Details of the voting support were first reported last week in an article in The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Representatives of AT&T helped fans of Mr. Allen at the two Arkansas events by providing instructions on how to send 10 or more text messages at the press of a single button, known as power texts. Power texts have an exponentially greater effect on voting than do single text messages or calls to the show’s toll-free phone lines. The efforts appear to run afoul of “American Idol” voting rules in two ways. The show broadcasts an on-screen statement at the end of each episode warning that blocks of votes cast using “technical enhancements” that unfairly influence the outcome of voting can be thrown out.

And the show regularly states that text voting is open only to AT&T subscribers and is subject to normal rates.

Groucho

How many extra votes could a couple people demoing a phone have cast? Come on!

mwbmis

From what I've read, the voting wasn't even close. If it had been I'm sure they would have said something about them only being a certain number of votes apart.

Kris fans did not "cheat". Adam did not get "screwed". It's the same BS every year. Kris just had a more wide ranging appeal than Adam.

al_bundy

i think we need congressional hearings on this

clappj

Sounds like a job for Obama!

rocketsauce

Didn't a thunderstorm here in Chicago cheat someone one time?

Charlie Goose

Simon Cowell once created a monsoon in Hawaii to prevent them from voting for Jasmine Trias.

Septemberbaby

Does all this mean that John McCain may have won the election?

Septemberbaby

Yes, Jennifer Hudson. Power outage.

Looks like it worked out okay for her.

Gizmo

People actually care about this?

Mok

I don't buy it, I mean come on. I think what happened is all the Gokey lovers went over to Kris side instead of Adam.

islandclaws

Stay out of it, GizmoDVD.

RichC2

Of course, how else could a clean cut soft rocker beat a drag queen singing songs from Donnie Darko?

Septemberbaby

Fox Responds

Fox responds to 'Idol' voting controversy
Fox and "American Idol" producers defended themselves Wednesday against accusations of voting irregularities during the "Idol" finale that saw underdog Kris Allen catapult over judges' favorite Adam Lambert.

The New York Times reported that "Idol" sponsor AT&T provided Allen fans with free text-messaging and tips on how to "power-text" at two finale viewing parties in Arkansas last week. Local AT&T reps gave fans phones they could use to send 10 text message votes at the touch of a button, a practice the Times said appears to violate the show's rules against using “technical enhancements” to bump voting.

The Arkansas Post-Democrat said the phone company provided about 50 units at one event, 30 at another. Other sources put the number of phones as considerably lower.

The question Wednesday morning was whether AT&T's blunder was enough to tilt the balance of the finale's outcome.

Fox and "Idol" producers 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia released a statement saying Allen is indeed the winner:

“Fox and the producers of 'American Idol' are absolutely certain that the results of this competition are fair, accurate and verified. Kris Allen is, without a doubt, the American Idol. We have an independent third-party monitoring procedure in place to ensure the integrity of the voting process. In no way did any individuals unfairly influence the outcome of the competition.”

Based on the available information, the math supports the network.

Let's say there were indeed 80 free power-text phones in play. And suppose each was used to vote once per minute by Allen partygoers while they watched the two-hour "American Idol" telecast (keep in mind this was AT&T staffers demo'ing phones at a party, not an underground Allen voting boiler room). That's 9,600 text messages. And suppose each voter sent 10 votes for Allen each time. That would give Allen 96,000 votes.

And all that assumed the surge wasn't flagged -- as the statement notes, "Idol" votes are not blindly collected; there's a monitoring system in place to catch voting irregularities.

Network sources say more than 100 million votes were cast in the Allen-Lambert contest -- the most votes ever for an "Idol" finale, as host Ryan Seacrest noted on the air last week. Fox reps have previously told reporters that Allen won by a large margin.

All of which suggests a gap that no amount of Arkansas party voting could have given Lambert the win.

Sources seem to agree, however, that the local AT&T reps embarrassingly messed up giving Allen supporters free votes, especially with AT&T a major "Idol" sponsor.

Earlier, AT&T issued this statement: “In Arkansas, we were invited to attend the local watch parties organized by the community. A few local employees brought a small number of demo phones with them and provided texting tutorials to those who were interested.”

Meanwhile in other post "Idol" finale news: Nine songs from Allen and Lambert have entered this week's Billboard Hot 100 -- but they all trail "Don't Stop Believin" by the cast of Fox's "Glee," which is the chart's Hot Shot Debut at No. 4.

clckworang

Ha, ha. I was going to say does anybody still care about this, so point well taken.

Come on! It's a silly reality competition. Get over it, people! Adam lost. Life will continue. I promise.

Yes, I did watch the show. No, I didn't like Adam. But that doesn't mean I would still be crying about it if he won.

Jimmy James

I hope it was rigged and people become so outraged it leads to the cancellation of this piece of shit reality show.

Daytripper

I would.

chino77

wow why do you care so much? do you need more fox cartoons?

Jimmy James

I'm sick and tired of watching shows with merit die because the masses cannot be bothered with something resembling a plot.

nightwing82

Regardless Kris was going to win.

Look at the single sales, dollar signs talk -- Kris has over 100,000 copies sold and Adam has around 30,000-some sold.

If it was rigged for Adam to lose I think we would be seeing more sales to show Adam was the popular one -- much like how when Clay's single debuted at #1 beating out Ruben at #2 even though Ruben won.

Deftones

if it was rigged, they rigged it for the right guy to win.

chino77

yeah because shows like 24,bones, and house dont have plots
you do realise this show does some good right? its not like survivor or big brother. it has the potential to launch unknown peoples careers.

chino77

oh and for you lambert fans who didnt catch him on larry king. he said he is going to make a pop/rock electronic cd. so basically some crap all you 80's hair band loving people wont like. suck it...chris won and he is better and more relevant. go chris.

Jimmy James

Based on the careers and the musical output of the "winners", I'd call this a stretch.

RoboDad

First, chino77 didn't say anything about whether the potential was limited to "winners", and second, looking at the careers of people such as Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood, and Kelly Clarkson, I would say this is far from a stretch.