GB2503415A

GB2503415A - Interactive content system managing viewer content selection and displaying user messages

Info

Publication number: GB2503415A
Application number: GB201207021A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Anthony Hodgkinson
Original assignee: CSC Media Group Ltd
Current assignee: CSC Media Group Ltd
Priority date: 2012-04-23
Filing date: 2012-04-23
Publication date: 2014-01-01
Also published as: GB201207021D0

Abstract

In an interactive (e.g. video) content system, viewers of a programme being broadcast select or vote for content to be included in the programme, the programme presenting to viewers plural content items for selection and inclusion in the programme; viewers transmit selection data to a data processing system which determines, from the selection (viewer, user choice) data, selected content items to be broadcast and associated broadcast times. Various system features are claimed: allowing submission of personal content for broadcast, with moderation 3, 4 suitability checking; adjusting times of advertisement break broadcasting, according to the length of chosen content items, to comply with advert regulations; automatic broadcast schedule creation, leaving a free period leading to a programme end time, and dynamically varying the free period length and the content item to occupy the free period; and terminating the ability to transmit (user, choice) selection data based on reaching a predetermined time period from the end of content being broadcast. Also claimed is a system (Figures 2, 3) displaying user-submitted (e.g. SMS, MMS text) messages, in ladder arrangement, with new messages moving old messages off of the ladder, and using best fit criteria for message display.

Description

Interactive Content Selection System This invention relates to an interactive content system, in which viewers of a programme being broadcast can take part in the selection of content to be included S in the programme. The invention is particularly applicable to a programme in which viewers take part in the selection of music tracks to be played, preferably with an accompanying video. However, the invention is applicable to the selection of other content such as video clips available from sources such as YouTubelM. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the selection of content to be played is determined by a voting system, although in some embodiments the selection of content could be by a "ukebox" system in which users select tracks on a first come, first served basis.

The programme may be broadcast by terrestrial, satellite or cable means, or delivered in any other suitable manner such as by means of a broadband connection, and may be received on a television, a computer, a mobile smart phone, a tablet or any other suitable device. In preferred embodiments the programme is viewed on a television and user interaction is by means of a device such as a mobile phone, which a user can operate without interfering with the viewing of the programme. Examples of ways in which interaction can be achieved are: sending text messages using a mobile telephone or other device; using an application running on a mobile device (an "App"); using facilities provided by a social networking provider such as FacebookTM or TwitterTM; or using an interactive facility provided by a broadcaster of a programme such as SkyTM.

Viewed from one aspect the present invention provides an interactive content system, in which viewers of a programme being broadcast by a provider take part in the selection of content to be included in the programme, wherein the programme presents to the viewers a plurality of content items which can be selected by viewers for inclusion in the programme, and viewers transmit selection data to a data processing system which determines, from the selection data, the selected content items to be broadcast and the times at which the content items are to be broadcast, and instructs a broadcasting module to broadcast the selected content items at the times determined by the data processing system; wherein a viewer may also transmit personal content to the data processing system, such personal content is passed through a moderation system to check for the suitability of the personal content for broadcast, and personal content which is deemed suitable for broadcast is included in the programme being broadcast.

S Thus in addition to (or even instead of) selecting, for example, a music track to be broadcast, a viewer may also transmit personal content such as a message or a photograph which will be included in the programme.

It is envisaged that such a system will be particularly attractive to young people who can select music videos to be broadcast and can also engage with the programme via their mobile phones, FacebookTM or TwitterTM accounts and the like, to post messages and submit photographs. Such a system can generate a sense of community on-air, where viewers can chat about anything they want, music, current topics and general chatter.

In a preferred embodiment, tracks which receive the most requests will be selected for broadcasting. Viewers can send in a request for a track from a list of tracks that is displayed, each having a unique request code which the viewer uses to request the track. The most popular tracks are displayed via a leader board, which is constantly refreshed. Towards the end of the current track playing, the request line momentarily closes and the most requested track is determined and cued up for broadcast. On screen the number of tracks left to play, within the allocated time period of the show, is shown so viewers can determine whether they wish to try and get their chosen track played. Viewers may be charged for transmitting a request.

Viewers may be able also to vote whether they think the current track playing is Hot or Not with the results illustrated, for example, by a swingometer. It is envisaged that there will be no charge for this form of voting.

The moderation system may be implemented at least in part by data processing apparatus programmed suitably, for example to scan messages for unacceptable words. However, it is envisaged that human moderators will generally be necessary, particularly to scan images.

Should the service fail at any stage the moderating system is preferably such that it will not to accept and publish any activity. In the case of selection requests, which do not require moderation, these requests may be passed straight through to a playout system, and the playout system will automatically not charge for requests.

S In this event of failure the playout system will notify other parts of the system, such as a social networking application and the ability to request will be removed. The fail-safe for a social networking site is that requesters whose requests have failed are given free requests to redeem at a later date. Any in play requests that perish on service failure will be manually refunded via giving free requests, with the option of a refund if the viewer is not satisfied.

During a day the moderating system might give out small prizes (less than £200 in monetary value) for people to win. These competitions will either be subjective (such as the funniest photograph submitted) or skill based (such as a quiz on what the real name of an artist). The moderating system may publish the entry details and the length of the competition, and the subsequent name of the winner, in the message stream.

The system may operate in two modes. One is just selection requests, which may be unmoderated, and the other will include user submitted content and be moderated for that. The modes may depend on the time of day.

In preferred embodiments, a full end to end system accepts data feeds, processes them, delivers them to screen and reports back on the outcome.

In preferred embodiments, a content management system (CMS) has a range of features to manage the content being sent into the channel, to build a profile page for each user so that it sis possible to monitor their usage and manage their account (such as edit! block! provide free interactions) and run business reports on the live and historic activity.

This OMS draws its information from a database, which accepts all the data feeds and then passes these on to a moderation team to moderate message (or in the case of requests only, where no moderation is required, passes the data straight on to a staging server).

A moderation database collates the information it has been passed. The moderating system uses its own consoles to interrogate this database so that moderators can accept / reject messages and photos. Once moderated this S information is passed back to a database for collation and to be passed on to a staging server. This collates and stores the information locally in case the connection fails to a TV database and then passes it to the playout equipment to be broadcast on air. The staging server also sends information back to the database to record successful receipt of information and success or failure of video requests.

In a preferred embodiment, Most Requested (MR) is a service where viewers determine the next music video to be played by lodging requests via text messages (SMS) or via the an application on a social networking site from a list of associated, individually numbered music videos.

There may be between 20-60 tracks to select from determined by a channel manager and based upon the time length of the show e.g. 2, 3 or 4 hours. Each MR show will be followed by another MR show but each show has its own collection of tracks. The system looks at the time length of the show and the average length of the tracks available and calculates how many slots there are (taking into account time for advertisement or other breaks). It then automatically constructs the show, scheduling in the tracks and the breaks within the show, in case there are not any requests and also so the show has a track to start with. Once the show is underway the system needs to ensure that any rules relating to the amount of advertising minutes in an hour are adhered to. As tracks are requested, the time at which the auto scheduled advertisement breaks are to be played will change.

To ensure ad breaks do not creep" into the next hour, which could result in too much advertising in an hour or to ensure the breaks are uniformly spread out across the show, the system allows the advertisement breaks to move within a set parameter. The system therefore has to look ahead to see if it can fit in the next most requested track before the next advertisement break or bring the advertisement break forward and play the track afterwards.

Automatically re-scheduling advertisement breaks is itself a novel technique and thus viewed from another aspect, the invention provides an interactive content system, in which viewers of a programme being broadcast by a provider take part in the selection of content to be included in the programme, wherein the programme presents to the viewers a plurality of content items which can be selected by viewers for inclusion in the programme, and viewers transmit selection data to a S data processing system which determines, from the selection data, the selected content items to be broadcast and the times at which the content items are to be broadcast, and instructs a broadcasting module to broadcast the selected content items at the times determined by the data processing system; wherein the programme includes a plurality of advertisement breaks for broadcasting advertising content, and the system is such that in accordance with the length of the content items which are selected to be broadcast, the times of broadcast of the advertisement breaks are adjusted so as to comply with regulations as to the amount of advertising there can be in a specified period of time.

Additionally, the system needs to ensure the show finishes at the allocated hour.

When the system automatically constructs the show to be broadcast it holds back a portion of time at the end, to provide a safety filler period from the end of the requested tracks to the end of the show. This filler period is then auto scheduled with a track from the list of tracks. The length of this filler period needs to be kept to a minimum to enable as many slots as possible to be fitted in.

As the tracks are requested and played, the length of this filler period changes and the system looks to see if there is a track or tracks available that fits the time period perfectly. It selects what it determines to be the best fit and if need be the system will fade out the last remaining seconds of the track -so that the show ends gracefully".

This technique for ensuring that the programme can end at the specified time is also new and thus viewed from another aspect, the invention provides an interactive content system, in which viewers of a programme being broadcast by a provider take part in the selection of content to be included in the programme, wherein the programme presents to the viewers a plurality of content items which can be selected by viewers for inclusion in the programme, and viewers transmit selection data to a data processing system which determines, from the selection data, the selected content items to be broadcast and the times at which the content items are to be broadcast, and instructs a broadcasting module to broadcast the selected content items at the times determined by the data processing system; wherein the programme has a start time and an end time, and the system creates automatically a basic broadcast schedule, leaving a free period leading up to the S programme end time, and identifies at least one content item to occupy the free period, and as the programme progresses and content items are selected in accordance with selection data, the length of the free period is varied and the at least one content item to occupy the free period is altered dynamically.

In preferred embodiments, the system allocates a unique code identifier for each content item, e.g. music video track, so viewers can request it. It may be a three digit code. If the track has been used before the system will look back and retain that number, so viewers can start to remember track codes. However there are no free codes available (up the maximum of 999 unique codes in the preferred embodiment) and the system will reallocate codes.

In a preferred embodiment, the artists, track names and codes scroll across the bottom of the screen, like a ticker tape, for viewers to start requesting.

Throughout the show viewers are informed of how many videos there are left to play so that they can decide whether they wish to try and get their chosen track played.

Because the length of the show is fixed but the length of the videos are all different the system constantly recalculates the number of slots available to play, based on average length of the tracks available. It ignores any track that has been delisted and not available to be requested -any track that is played is immediately removed for twenty minutes from the list of available tracks that is displayed, to avoid viewers voting for it over and over again. If viewers try and request that track they receive a free message informing them that they cannot request the track.

Whilst the system is calculating the number of slots available, it also needs to avoid the situation of the number of tracks being recalculated and suddenly jumping from say three tracks remaining to just one. The system therefore stops recalculating towards the end of the show, when the opportunity for a viewer to get a desired track played becomes smaller, so that the number of slots never jumps from when the number gets to between three or four.

During the show viewers can see a leader board list (for example, arranged like a S ladder up the screen) showing which track has the most requests. This is constantly updated during the track.

At a predetermined time from the end of the track, such as 105 seconds, a countdown starts on screen, for example counting down from 60 to zero, at which point the viewers are led to believe that the request line has closed. However, the system actually holds it open for a further period such as 10 seconds to provide for communication lag times such as mobile network message delays and Internet lag time. During this time the viewer may see a message such as the words Collecting Texts". Then the line closes effectively 35 seconds from the end of the track (+1-2 seconds) and the next track is determined.

If during this period from the lines closing to the next track starting, viewers continue to make request they may be either: (i) not charged and informed by a free message (via SMS), or (ii) given one or more (such as two) free requests in compensation and informed by a email to their social networking account and their profile updated to indicate that the one or more fee requests are available.

This method of closing down lines is also novel and thus viewed from another aspect the invention provides an interactive content system, in which viewers of a programme being broadcast by a provider take part in the selection of content to be included in the programme, wherein the programme presents to the viewers a plurality of content items which can be selected by viewers for inclusion in the programme, and viewers transmit selection data to a data processing system which determines, from the selection data, the selected content items to be broadcast and the times at which the content items are to be broadcast, and instructs a broadcasting module to broadcast the selected content items at the times determined by the data processing system; wherein at a predetermined length of time from the end of a content item that is being broadcast, viewers are provided with an indication that at the end of a first period of time that is shorter than said predetermined length of time by a second period of time, the ability to transmit selection data will be terminated; after the end of said first period of time and within said second period of time the system terminates reception of selection data; and at the end of said second period of time broadcast of the content item terminates.

S Once the next track has been determined, any requests for other tracks remain and go forward for the next track decision. Preferably, requests are not carried over to a subsequent programme -all requests once a show has finished are removed from the request bin.

Preferably, if someone tries to request a track that is not available or the request is not recognised the systems replies with a message informing the viewer that it is not recognised.

In accordance with the first aspect of the invention, viewers have the ability to send in a message or other user content, such as a photograph, into the programme. All messages are received by the moderating system and moderated before being broadcast.

Viewers may send in a text message to a specified number, which may depend on whether it is an SMS message or an MMS message. There may be a range of standard responses available to the moderator: Publish and charge, which generates a chargeable message back to the user.

(U) Publish and don't charge, a discretionary option to be used to either reward a user's involvement or compensate them for something.

(Ui) Do not publish and do not charge, for example in the instance of an abusive message or a message obviously sent in error.

(iv) Do not publish but charge. This will be used very rarely at the discretion of the moderator to punish a user for continuing to send in abusive messages, in the hope that the user stops.

Users of a social networking site can use an application to send in messages or photos. As with Most Requested, a user may needs to pay (for example with credits used by the networking site) before they send the message or photo. Should there be any issues around the receipt of a user's message or photo it is possible for the S moderator to access the user's profile and provide them with compensation or failing that manually arrange for a refund to be arranged.

In summary, any message or photos sent in by users that conform to an editorial and compliance policy, will always be published.

Other aspects of the invention concern the manner in which the system constructs the user interface on screen.

In a preferred embodiment, the user interface has been designed to maximise the amount of space available for the various interactive elements. Consideration has been given to: (i) The size of the video window, determined by restrictions imposed by the music labels on behalf of video licensing body, by the aspect ratio of the video and sufficient "safe area" to accommodate different television video settings (ii) The relative importance and perceived value of the music video versus the messages versus the photographs versus information concerning selecting the most requested tracks.

(Vi) The way and speed at which new content is displayed, to retain viewers to the channel.

(iv) To provide sufficient space to promote features of the channel and also to provide terms and conditions and other instructional and compliant information.

Ultimately, the aim is to deliver a service which is pleasing to the eye, potentially for longer periods of time than usual music viewing, and retains viewers to deliver advertising and interactive revenues.

A particular area at which the system manages content regards displaying messages from viewers. Each message sent in by a viewer will vary in length. It is desired to display messages in a ladder, with a new message appearing at one end of the ladder, and an old message moving off the other end of the ladder. It is S known to have a scrolling list of text items on a screen, but another aspect of the invention concerns an improved arrangement.

Viewed from another aspect the present invention provides an interactive content system, in which viewers of a programme being broadcast by a provider take part in the selection of content to be included in the programme, wherein the programme presents to the viewers a plurality of content items which can be selected by viewers for inclusion in the programme, and viewers transmit selection data to a data processing system which determines, from the selection data, the selected content items to be broadcast and the times at which the content items are to be broadcast, and instructs a broadcasting module to broadcast the selected content items at the times determined by the data processing system; wherein viewers also transmit messages to be displayed in the programme, the messages are displayed in a ladder arrangement, with a new message appearing at one end of the ladder, and an old message moving off the other end of the ladder; and wherein there is a predetermined extent for the ladder, whole messages are displayed as units on the ladder, the portion of the extent of the ladder being occupied by a unit depending on the length of the message in that unit, prior to a new message being displayed at said one end of the ladder the new message is analysed by the system to determine its length and thus the portion of the extent of the ladder that will be occupied by a unit containing that message, and at least one unit is chosen by the system to be removed from the other end of the ladder so as to provide a best fit for complete units, including the unit containing the new message, in the predetermined extent of the ladder.

Thus if a new message is three lines long, and there is at the other end of the ladder a three line old message, that old message will be removed. If there is a one line message and a two line message, both of them will be removed.

In this manner, the ladder is kept as full as possible, whilst each message on the ladder is displayed in its entirety.

In one preferred embodiment, before each message appears at the start of the message ladder, which is preferably the base of the ladder, the length of the message is assessed and categorised into Short, Medium or Long. Once S categorised the system looks at the top of the ladder to determine how many messages at the top need to be removed, to make room for the new message to appear at the bottom.

The system is also structured to avoid as little blank room at the base of the ladder as possible e.g. it is clearly inefficient to remove a Long message from the top of the ladder only to be replaced by a Short message at the base.

This message display arrangement is of general applicability and thus viewed from another aspect, the invention provides a system for displaying messages submitted by users, wherein the messages are displayed in a ladder arrangement on a display, with a new message appearing at one end of the ladder, and an old message moving off the other end of the ladder; and wherein there is a predetermined extent for the ladder, whole messages are displayed as units on the ladder, the portion of the extent of the ladder being occupied by a unit depending on the length of the message in that unit! prior to a new message being displayed at said one end of the ladder the new message is analysed by the system to determine its length and thus the portion of the extent of the ladder that will be occupied by a unit containing that message, and at least one unit is chosen by the system to be removed from the other end of the ladder so as to provide a best fit for complete units, including the unit containing the new message, in the predetermined extent of the ladder.

The invention also extends to the various aspects of the invention expressed as methods of presenting content to viewers, to equipment programmed to present the data to viewers, and to computer software configured to program data processing equipment to present the content to viewers. The software may be provided in physical form on a data carrier, or as signals from a remote location. Where reference is made to a server or a database, this may be a single physical unit, one of a plurality of virtual servers or databases provided on a single physical unit, or separate units.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: S Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the data processing system used in implementation of the invention; Figure 2 is a representation of how a television screen will appear to a user, including a message ladder; and Figure 3 shows how a new message appears on the ladder.

As shown in Figure 1, there is provided a content management system 1. This has a range of features to manage the content being sent into the channel, to build a profile page for each user so that it is possible to monitor their usage and manage their account (such as edit / block! provide free interactions) and run business reports on the live and historic activity.

The content management system 1 manages: XML feeds out; all contents such as photographs and avatars; all accounts; pricing; most requested data; and rep[orts on services This CMS draws its information from a TV database 2, which accepts all the data feeds and then passes these on to a moderation database 3, accessed by a moderation team using a moderating system 4, to moderate message. In the case of requests for tracks only, no moderation is required. Un moderated data is fed to the moderation database, and moderated data is fed back to the TV database.

In this embodiment there are three feeds into the TV database. Feed 5 supplies data from FacebookTM; feed 6 from TwitterlM and feed 7 supplies SMS and MMS messages from a mobile telephone network.

The moderated data, or unmoderated if only a request is involved, is passed to a staging server 8, and then to the playout infrastructure for broadcast over the required systems such as digital terrestrial, digital satellite or digital cable television.

A moderation database collates the information it has been passed. The S moderating system uses its own consoles to interrogate this database so that moderators can accept I reject messages and photos. Once moderated this information is passed back to a database for collation and to be passed on to a staging server. This collates and stores the information locally in case the connection fails to a TV database and then passes it to the playout equipment to be broadcast on air. The staging server also sends information back to the database to record successful receipt of information and success or failure of video requests.

Figure 2 shows in diagrammatic form the display 10 that is presented to a viewer on a television screen. Region 11 shows the music video that is playing, having been selected through a "most requested" system. There is a scrolling display 12 of information such as the available tracks and the codes to select them. A region 13 displays a ladder of messages. In this particular arrangement, messages are limited to the number of characters that will fill three lines in an individual message panel. There are three sizes of panel used, for one, two and three lines. Messages Ml and MS are single line messages; message M" is a two line message; and messages M3 and M$ are three line messages.

As shown in Figure 3, a further message M6 has been added to the bottom of the ladder. This message requires a three line panel. The system calculates the existing message or message on the panel that need to be displaced, and in this case messages Ml and M2 are removed in their entirety. Part panels are not left displaying only part of a message.

The message panels may include a small photograph of the viewer submitting the message, and identifier for the viewer, and the source (such as FacebookTM, TwitterlM or an SMS or MMS text message.

A region 14 displays the leaderboard of tracks. The tracks will move up and down the leaderboard as requests are received. A carousel or ladder 15 provides a preview of a number of photographs that have been submitted, and then when it is time for a particular photograph to be displayed fully, it is moved to region 16. The submitter will therefore stay longer with the channel waiting for their photograph to move up and eventually across to region 16.

S This embodiment does not provide a jukebox service where users pay for a track to get played. The service is a request service where there is only a guarantee to play the most requested track, and users can see how they are influencing the outcome.

Users receive acknowledgements of their requests. Users are informed of how many tracks there are left to play, so they can decide on whether to participate or not

Claims

CLAIMS1. An interactive content system, in which viewers of a programme being broadcast by a provider take part in the selection of content to be included in the S programme, wherein the programme presents to the viewers a plurality of content items which can be selected by viewers for inclusion in the programme, and viewers transmit selection data to a data processing system which determines, from the selection data, the selected content items to be broadcast and the times at which the content items are to be broadcast, and instructs a broadcasting module to broadcast the selected content items at the times determined by the data processing system; wherein a viewer may also transmit personal content to the data processing system, such personal content is passed through a moderation system to check for the suitability of the personal content for broadcast, and personal content which is deemed suitable for broadcast is included in the programme being broadcast.
2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the personal content comprises a message and / or an image.
3. A system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the programme includes a plurality of advertisement breaks for broadcasting advertising content, and the system is such that in accordance with the length of the content items which are selected to be broadcast, the times of broadcast of the advertisement breaks are adjusted automatically so as to comply with regulations as to the amount of advertising there can be in a specified period of time.
4. A system as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the programme has a start time and an end time, and the system creates automatically a basic broadcast schedule, leaving a free period leading up to the programme end time, and identifies at least one content item to occupy the free period, and as the programme progresses and content items are selected in accordance with selection data, the length of the free period is varied and the choice of the at least one content item to occupy the free period is altered dynamically.
5. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein at a predetermined length of time from the end of a content item that is being broadcast! viewers are provided with an indication that at the end of a first period of time that is shorter than said predetermined length of time by a second period of time, the ability to transmit selection data will be terminated; after the end of said first period of time and within said second period of time the system terminates reception of selection S data; and at the end of said second period of time, broadcast of the content item terminates.
6. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein personal content in the form of messages submitted by viewers are displayed in a ladder arrangement, with a new message appearing at one end of the ladder, and an old message moving off the other end of the ladder; and wherein there is a predetermined extent for the ladder, whole messages are displayed as units on the ladder, the portion of the extent of the ladder being occupied by a unit depending on the length of the message in that unit; prior to a new message being displayed at said one end of the ladder the new message is analysed by the system to determine its length and thus the portion of the extent of the ladder that will be occupied by a unit containing that message, and at least one unit is chosen by the system to be removed from the other end of the ladder so as to provide a best fit for complete units, including the unit containing the new message, in the predetermined extent of the ladder.
7. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein viewers take part in the selection of content to be included in the programme by voting for a particular content item from a selection of available content items.
8. An interactive content system, in which viewers of a programme being broadcast by a provider take part in the selection of content to be included in the programme, wherein the programme presents to the viewers a plurality of content items which can be selected by viewers for inclusion in the programme, and viewers transmit selection data to a data processing system which determines, from the selection data, the selected content items to be broadcast and the times at which the content items are to be broadcast, and instructs a broadcasting module to broadcast the selected content items at the times determined by the data processing system; wherein the programme includes a plurality of advertisement breaks for broadcasting advertising content, and the system is such that in accordance with the length of the content items which are selected to be broadcast, the times of broadcast of the advertisement breaks are adjusted so as to comply with regulations as to the amount of advertising there can be in a specified period of time.
9. An interactive content system, in which viewers of a programme being broadcast by a provider take part in the selection of content to be included in the programme, wherein the programme presents to the viewers a plurality of content items which can be selected by viewers for inclusion in the programme, and viewers transmit selection data to a data processing system which determines, from the selection data, the selected content items to be broadcast and the times at which the content items are to be broadcast, and instructs a broadcasting module to broadcast the selected content items at the times determined by the data processing system; wherein the programme has a start time and an end time, and the system creates automatically a basic broadcast schedule, leaving a free period leading up to the programme end time, and identifies at least one content item to occupy the free period, and as the programme progresses and content items are selected in accordance with selection data, the length of the free period is varied and the at least one content item to occupy the free period is altered dynamically.
10. An interactive content system, in which viewers of a programme being broadcast by a provider take part in the selection of content to be included in the programme, wherein the programme presents to the viewers a plurality of content items which can be selected by viewers for inclusion in the programme, and viewers transmit selection data to a data processing system which determines, from the selection data, the selected content items to be broadcast and the times at which the content items are to be broadcast, and instructs a broadcasting module to broadcast the selected content items at the times determined by the data processing system; wherein at a predetermined length of time from the end of a content item that is being broadcast, viewers are provided with an indication that at the end of a first period of time that is shorter than said predetermined length of time by a second period of time, the ability to transmit selection data will be terminated; after the end of said first period of time and within said second period of time the system terminates reception of selection data; and at the end of said second period of time broadcast of the content item terminates.
11. A system for displaying messages submitted by users, wherein the messages are displayed in a ladder arrangement on a display, with a new message appearing at one end of the ladder, and an old message moving off the other end of the ladder; and wherein there is a predetermined extent for the ladder, whole S messages are displayed as units on the ladder, the portion of the extent of the ladder being occupied by a unit depending on the length of the message in that unit, prior to a new message being displayed at said one end of the ladder the new message is analysed by the system to determine its length and thus the portion of the extent of the ladder that will be occupied by a unit containing that message, and at least one unit is chosen by the system to be removed from the other end of the ladder so as to provide a best fit for complete units, including the unit containing the new message, in the predetermined extent of the ladder.