£5.67M FINE FOR ITV OVER PHONE-IN SCANDAL

ITV has been handed a £5.67 million fine by the communications regulator for a series of mistakes concerning interactive phone-ins.

After a Deloitte audit commissioned by ITV chairman Sir Michael Grade uncovered "serious editorial issues" in the broadcaster's handling of phone-in competitions, Ofcom has imposed a hefty punishment on the channel.

Peter Hain, the then work and pensions secretary, had accused of ITV of "daylight robbery" after it emerged that a number of programmes had behaved unfairly in using interactive phone-ins, with phone lines left open despite winners having already been selected.

Programmes such as Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Soapstar Superstar and Gameshow Marathon were found to have breached broadcasting codes in numerous ways, such as selecting winners before phone lines were closed, choosing winners based on their geographical location, ignoring viewers' song choices and picking contestants on the basis of appearance.

A statement from Ofcom said the fine reflected "not only the seriousness of ITV’s failures but also their repeated nature".

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

"Further there was a completely inadequate compliance system in place," he added.

"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, the regulator's chief executive, said the fine should be a signal to the television industry of the seriousness with which Ofcom approaches audience trust.

It is the highest fine for a breach of Ofcom's broadcasting code since GMTV was fined £2 million in September last year for its "misconduct" in relation to phone-in competitions.