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Channel 4 admits new phone error | Channel 4 admits new phone error |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Channel 4 has pulled phone-ins from its coverage of the Cheltenham Festival after discovering a problem on its horse racing show The Morning Line. | |
About 100 people were charged for calling a competition after lines had closed, chief executive Andy Duncan told a House of Commons committee. | |
The mistake was discovered by auditors appointed to review Channel 4's live phone-ins following recent problems. | The mistake was discovered by auditors appointed to review Channel 4's live phone-ins following recent problems. |
Mr Duncan said Channel 4 was contacting the callers to arrange refunds. | |
The error was apparently due to a computer glitch at phone service provider Eckoh. | The error was apparently due to a computer glitch at phone service provider Eckoh. |
ITV denied David Gest was wrongly evicted from I'm a Celebrity...The company also provides services to Richard and Judy, Saturday Kitchen and Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway - all of which are under investigation by phone line watchdog Icstis. | |
Mr Duncan said if competitions returned to its horse-racing coverage, Channel 4 would probably use "somebody else" to run the phone-in. | |
The latest phone-in problem came as ITV denied mistakes with vote-counting on reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here. | |
The Sun newspaper claimed David Gest was wrongly evicted from last year's series after 30,000 text votes intended to save the star were not counted. | |
Police involvement | |
"This accusation is completely wrong," an ITV statement said. "On the night of David Gest's eviction, all votes were counted and verified." | |
Eckoh, which ran the voting lines, said it was seeking legal advice over the "maliciously fabricated" claims. | |
"Eckoh and its staff have been put under intense scrutiny in recent weeks and this cannot be allowed to continue," chief executive Nik Philpot said. | |
"On that basis we are taking legal advice and we will be reporting the matter to the police." | |
I don't think the importance of compliance has really sunk in ITV boss Michael Grade on phone-in regulations Icstis said it was looking into the claims, but has not launched a formal investigation. | |
Speaking to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, ITV executive chairman Michael Grade said he was "really surprised" at the Sun story. | |
Mr Grade also defended the use of interactive votes on ITV shows. | |
"If you provide a service that the public enjoy and that the public is not compelled to use, it seems to me that this is a perfectly legitimate exercise, and one in which it is perfectly proper to make a margin of profit," he said. | "If you provide a service that the public enjoy and that the public is not compelled to use, it seems to me that this is a perfectly legitimate exercise, and one in which it is perfectly proper to make a margin of profit," he said. |
Dancing on Ice returned to ITV following an independent auditBut Mr Grade admitted programme staff had not understood the importance of complying with phone-in regulations. | |
"In the excitement of a live gallery - which is a pretty fevered place on a big network show - I don't think the training and the importance of compliance has really sunk in," he said. | "In the excitement of a live gallery - which is a pretty fevered place on a big network show - I don't think the training and the importance of compliance has really sunk in," he said. |
He also revealed the number of votes had risen on last week's episode of Dancing on Ice, suggesting public confidence had not been affected by the current problems. | |
The committee was told premium rate phone-ins were a vital part of programming. | |
Five chief executive Jane Lighting said telephone services were "due to deliver about £8m" to the channel in 2006. | |
"If you look at our children's programming, our entire production cost is around £6 million, so it is an important contributor to our funding," she said. | |
Icstis is currently investigating six shows: Channel 4's Richard and Judy, the BBC's Saturday Kitchen and ITV programmes, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, The X Factor, Soapstar Superstar and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! | Icstis is currently investigating six shows: Channel 4's Richard and Judy, the BBC's Saturday Kitchen and ITV programmes, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, The X Factor, Soapstar Superstar and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! |