Ofcom issues phone-in row fine

Published: Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:01:01

The producers of the British Comedy awards have been handed an £80,000 fine over phone-in irregularities at the 2004 and 2005 ceremonies. The punishment comes in relation to breaches of the broadcasting code with both trangressions related to the People's Choice award. Ant and Dec were given the prize for Saturday Night Takeaway in 2005 even though The Catherine Tate Show had received more votes.

The alleged irregularities arose over the extension of an invitation to Robbie Williams, who was to present an award on the condition that Ant and Dec were the recipients. A statement from media regulator Ofcom said the fine had come in relation to "the early finalising of the vote for the People's Choice award in the British Comedy awards 2004 and 2005 ('as live' breaches)" and "the over-riding of the viewers' vote for the People's Choice award and substituting a different winner in the British Comedy awards 2005". Programme makers Channel TV admitted the early finalising of viewers' votes in 2004 was "entirely unintentional but nonetheless stupid".

The final half-hour of the awards ceremony was pre-recorded but broadcast as live and included calls to viewers to vote for the People's Choice category, even though the winner had already been decided. While in 2005 the decision to incorrectly award the prize to Ant and Dec was made by a member or members of the independent production team, rather than Channel TV, the Ofcom findings criticised Channel TV for its failure to install safeguards to prevent such tampering, especially in light of the issues in 2004. £45,000 of the fine issued on Friday comes in respect of the 'as live' breaches in 2004, with £35,000 as a punishment for the selection breach in 2005.

The Ofcom judgement also noted that investigators were "frustrated by the lack of cooperation it received from some people involved in the production of the British Comedy awards 2004 and 2005". "As a result it was unable to conclude definitively on the full circumstances surrounding the substitution of the winner of the People's Choice award at the British Comedy awards 2005."

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