EVALUATION OF RESPONSES OF PARTICIPATORY BROADCAST AUDIENCE WITH PREDICTION OF WINNING CONTESTANTS: MONITORING, CHECKING AND CONTROLLING OF WAGERING, AND AUTOMATIC CREDITING AND COUPONING

摘要

A system and method for evaluating responses to broadcast programs, such as television programs, include an instructional signal modulated into a signal transmitted concurrently with the television program, simulcast, or time-multiplexed with a television. At each of a plurality of remote receiving stations (206c), one or more members of a remote audience has the opportunity to respond to a situation presented in the television program by entering a response (800) on a keyboard. For conducting a sweepstakes, numbers or other resonses are entered at the remote stations and are stored at a central facility (1708) for verification. The program may be presented live conducted by a host at a central station, or by a prerecorded message accessible by telephone from a remote station with regulation from a central station, and members of the remote audience may predict or select winning contestants.