This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/entertainment/7373131.stm
The article has changed 12 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
ITV fined £5.68m over phone-ins | ITV fined £5.68m over phone-ins |
(20 minutes later) | |
ITV has been fined a record £5.68m by Ofcom for abusing premium rate phone services in viewer competitions. | ITV has been fined a record £5.68m by Ofcom for abusing premium rate phone services in viewer competitions. |
The media regulator said the fine was by far the highest ever imposed and reflected the seriousness of ITV's failures and their repeated nature. | The media regulator said the fine was by far the highest ever imposed and reflected the seriousness of ITV's failures and their repeated nature. |
TV shows Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Gameshow Marathon and Soapstar Superstar were all found to have "serious editorial issues". | TV shows Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Gameshow Marathon and Soapstar Superstar were all found to have "serious editorial issues". |
Last year a report found viewers had spent millions on unfair competitions. | Last year a report found viewers had spent millions on unfair competitions. |
Ofcom said it had uncovered "institutionalised failure within ITV" and programme-makers showed "total disregard" for their own terms and conditions and broadcasting codes. | |
'Not very much' | |
ITV made £7.8m from uncounted votes from the programmes in question and some 10 million telephone calls were affected. | |
The broadcaster pledged to give back the sum to charity and for viewer compensation - and this fact was taken into account by Ofcom in reaching its decision on the level of the fines. | |
The penalty is almost three times higher than the previous record of £2 million that was imposed on GMTV by Ofcom in September 2007. | |
But as ITV could have been fined up to £70m - 5% of its commercial revenue - analysts have described the size of the fine as very small. | |
"For a company that's delivering to its shareholders £150m - £200m a year of free cashflow, i.e profit, money, this is on the pathetic end of not very much," broadcasting analyst Steve Hewlett told the BBC News channel. | |
As well as the fine, ITV will have to broadcast a summary of Ofcom's findings on six separate occasions. |