The fine is the latest in a long line of reprimands and fines
for broadcasters and premium-rate phone companies over the past
year. Ofcom's previous record high fine was last year's £2 million
sanction on GMTV.
The chair of the Association for Interactive Media and
Entertainment (AIME), which represents premium rate phone
companies, told technology law podcast OUT-LAW Radio that it was right that companies
that had abused the system were punished, but that some of the
blame had to attach to the regulators, Ofcom and premium-rate phone
regulator PhonepayPlus.
"Clearly there was non-compliance and that non-compliance has
been fined and quite rightly so," said Sally Weatherall, AIME
chair, about the series of broadcaster fines. "I just don't think
at a very basic level there was sufficient transparency and
enforcement of the regulations."
Ofcom and PhonepayPlus have been criticised for perceived
confusion in who was regulating what parts of the market and how
they worked together to co-ordinate responsibility for premium rate
providers, television broadcasters and production companies.
Ofcom subsequently overhauled the way that regulation of the
market works and said that it would make broadasters responsible
for competitions and abuses of phone lines.
ITV was fined over the selection of competition finalists before
phone lines had closed, meaning paying competitors had no chance of
winning; selecting competition finalists because of where they
lived or whether they were suitable TV participants; the placing of
known contestants on shortlists; ignoring viewer votes and
over-riding viewer choices; and failing to inform viewers of repeat
programmes that the programme was recorded and phone calls to
premium lines would be wasted.
Weatherall said that she thought broadcasters who made
interaction a central part of programming, and a vital revenue
generator, simply did not understand that they had to engage with
the regulations for premium phone lines.
"I think what was greatly underestimated, and frankly I don't
think there was very much transparency about it at all, was the
regulation and responsibility in terms of operating these
services," said Weatherall. "I do think it was as straightforward
as there being a compete lack of transparency in terms of the
broadcasters making the connection that this was a premium rate
service and was therefore regulated. It's a new sector of the
industry outside of their traditional Ofcom-licensed broadcast
environment."
Ofcom said that ITV failed to act properly or even to have
systems in place to track its impropriety.
“ITV programme makers totally disregarded their own published
terms and conditions and Ofcom Codes," said Philip Graf, chairman
of Ofcom’s Content Sanctions Committee. "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.”
The premium-rate phone line scandal has affected every UK
terrestrial broadcaster and has hit household name programmes such
as Blue Peter, Richard and Judy, Deal Or No Deal, I'm A Celebrity
Get Me Out Of Here and Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
