Scandals over phone-ins cost ITV a record £5.67 million

Published on Thursday 8 May 2008 22:31

BROADCASTER ITV was yesterday hit with a record £5.67 million fine by Ofcom, the industry regulator, over a spate of premium rate phone-in scandals.

Ofcom said the penalty "reflects not only the seriousness of ITV's failures but also their repeated nature".

The regulator investigated after a report found "serious editorial issues" in three ITV programmes, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Ant and Dec's Gameshow Marathon and Soapstar Superstar.

The penalty dwarfs the previous record fine of 2 million against GMTV, which is 75 per cent owned by ITV. GMTV charged viewers up to 40 million to enter competitions they had no chance of winning.

However, ITV could have been fined up to 70 million – 5 per cent of its commercial revenue.

The broadcaster made 7.8 million from uncounted votes, and some ten million telephone calls were affected.

Presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly said they had not been aware of the phone-in scandals, despite being credited as executive producers on Saturday Night Takeaway and Gameshow Marathon.

Last December, Channel 4 was fined 1.5 million for misconduct involving phone-in competitions on shows Richard and Judy and Deal Or No Deal.

Ofcom said it had uncovered "institutionalised failure within ITV" and programme-makers showed "total disregard" for their own terms and conditions and broadcasting codes.

As well as being fined a total 5.675 million for misconduct in viewer competitions and voting, ITV will have to broadcast a summary of Ofcom's findings on six separate occasions.

The watchdog said it had taken into account ITV's pledge to refund 7.8 million in deciding the level of the fine.

Philip Graf, chairman of Ofcom's content sanctions committee, said: "ITV programme-makers totally disregarded their own published terms and conditions and Ofcom codes.

"Further, there was a completely inadequate compliance system in place. The result was that millions of paying entrants were misled into believing they could fairly interact with some of ITV's most popular programmes."

Ed Richards, Ofcom's chief executive, added: "This was a thorough set of investigations which uncovered institutionalised failure within ITV that enabled the broadcaster to make money from misconduct on mass-audience programmes."

Michael Grade, the chairman of ITV, repeated the channel's "unreserved apology to the public for breaches between 2003 and January 2007".

STARS HAND BACK AWARD

PRESENTERS Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly last night said they would give back a top comedy award, after a report concluded they were its wrongful recipients.

Organisers of the British Comedy Awards promised Robbie Williams he could present an award to Ant and Dec to guarantee the star's attendance, before the duo were wrongly given an award voted for by the public.

The disclosure came in findings, published yesterday, on the 2005 awards broadcast on ITV.

The independent report, carried out by law firm Olswang, states that Williams was invited to present an award at the ceremony. It was "understood" the pop star would be happy to present an award if the recipients were Ant and Dec.

Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway was announced as the winner of the people's choice award, when the actual winner should have been The Catherine Tate Show, which collected the most public votes.

The report states that there is no suggestion that Williams or Ant and Dec were aware of "any of these issues".