the sit-up group

Have you ever watched those compelling interactive television channels like bid TV, price-drop TV or speed auction TV where consumer items are offered at bargain prices? And have you ever wondered how the programmes handle the tens of thousands of calls they must receive? Well the answer is C3.

All three channels, which are part of the sit-up channels TV group work with us and use our back office systems to help ensure that every caller who wants to place a bid in the auction gets through, first time. The call handling platform created by C3 has to be inherently robust and completely dependable. This has meant creating what are called ‘nodes’, (or call termination points), – and there are several of them. Each has a responsibility to take over from another if a problem occurs – which is vital in a live TV environment where there is no room for mistakes.

In effect, C’3 call handling technology act as the gateway between the caller and the ‘auction engine’ – the software that controls the actual auction. Every caller is taken through a simple to follow series of voice prompts which they respond to by using their phone key pads.

This application had to be specially written for sit-up quite simply because nothing quite like it had existed on British television before. Both C3 and its client had to work closely together to ensure an end-to-end service that worked to the complete satisfaction of sit-up and its customers.

Commenting, Clive Bradshaw, sit-up channels IT Director: “Over the years we have been working together, C3 has become an important partner for the sit-up, both in terms of the reliability of its technology and the responsiveness of the C3 team.” Our call handling system knows immediately which television channel the customer is calling, which item they are interested in and crucially what their bid is. While all this is happening, the caller’s details are checked to see if they already hold an account.

The system is robust enough to deal with an enormous number of calls at the same time which at peak times can run into many thousands of simultaneous callers, all of them wanting to buy and all of them expecting to get through first time. Interactive television has to adhere to strict compliance regulations and C3’s system has to take these regulations, (OFCOM and Phone Pay Plus), into account. The system also has to be flexible and utterly reliable. The programmes start at 7.45 am continue right through 1.30am the following day

The channel has been operating for the last eight years and C3 has been providing the interface between the customer and the channel since bid TV started.

Sit-up also has retail outlets and is a Sunday Times Fast Track 100 company as well as featuring in the Financial Times Top 50 Creative Businesses list for two consecutive years.