Quiz Show Guidance

The basic principles underpinning any Channel 4 gameshow, or programme that includes a quiz or competition element, include:

Fairness – all participants/contributors must be treated fairly and equally.

Transparency – the rules must be clear. All participants must be given clear information to enable them to fully understand the principles underlying the quiz (sometimes called the mechanic) and the basis upon which the winner(s) will be decided.

The following guidance has been written by the Legal & Compliance team to help producers comply with these basic principles.

Rules or Terms & Conditions
There must be a clear set of rules for quizzes or game shows. These must set out what is expected of participants and the terms of their participation. It is important to ensure that each participant has read, fully understood and accepted the rules in advance of taking part. Subsequent substantive changes made to the quiz, which impact the fairness, must be reflected in the rules. You should take advice from your Legal & Compliance contact whether you need to re-issue the rules to all participants.

The rules must be clear to ensure that all key elements of the quiz are well documented. For example, depending on the format, you may need to consider how participants are selected; how long they have to answer each question; how points are allocated/scored; when prize money will be paid and/or prizes awarded.

Setting Questions
Questions and answers should be accurate and be appropriate in subject matter and tone for audience expectations. Depending on the profile of the programme and the value of the prize, questions and answers will need to be verified by two reliable independent sources and appropriate records kept. If you are in any doubt about the editorial content of the questions you are setting, please refer to your Commissioning and Legal & Compliance contacts as early as possible.

Format or Quiz Mechanic
Care must be taken to ensure the format of the quiz is fair and participants are treated honestly. You may need to engage the services of an adjudicator, who is independent from the production company, to oversee elements of the quiz, for example to ensure a random selection process is demonstrably fair and production have not influenced the outcome.

Participants
Reasonable steps should be taken to ensure contributors are screened in advance to ensure only suitable contributors take part e.g. by carrying out background and social media checks. Please speak to your Commissioning and Legal & Compliance contacts to discuss appropriate checks to be carried out.

Prizes
Prizes must be described with due accuracy. If you wish to have your prizes donated, you must discuss this with your Legal & Compliance contact in advance as separate considerations will apply.

September 2021