Bingo! Fans strike it lucky

By Fiona Barber

Viewers who chose sleep instead of TeleBingo when the gambling and quiz show was moved to a later time have made their point.

TVNZ has decided to rescreen the Wednesday night shows on Thursday afternoons, with the first replay scheduled for today.

The move follows ratings which revealed that nearly a third of the show's loyal older audience had switched off since it was moved from 8 pm to 9.30 pm.

The overall audience also took a dive after the TV One timeslot reshuffle in August, which saw Battle of the Ballroom take the prime viewing spot.

The Lotteries Commission, which makes and owns TeleBingo, has fielded about 2000 complaints that the show was now too late.

It also said that the prize pool had dropped between 10 and 15 per cent following the move to the new timeslot.

TVNZ said it appreciated that some viewers may have been missing out on their weekly fix and the encore episodes would now screen at 3.35 pm on Thursdays.

"We want to make sure that anyone who wants to watch TeleBingo has the opportunity to do so," TV One general manager Shaun Brown said.

Last week Brown said that the network had received complaints from viewers and petitions from ticket-selling outlets when the move was first announced but these had since petered out.