The ITC said that the boxes may have been deliberately positioned to ensure Amazon's high visibility in the bulletins and ruled that GMTV was in breach of its Programming Code governing commercial product placement.
It pointed out that in GMTV's early morning bulletins shot outside Amazon's warehouse, only piles of Harry Potter books were visible. Yet the 8am bulletin featured five prominently placed Amazon boxes, which stayed on-screen for 16 seconds. GMTV denied that it had placed the boxes in the camera's view.
Sky One has also been rapped by the ITC for broadcasting a sponsorship credit for Futurama the Game which contained the same elements, characters and style as the Futurama series it was backing. The ITC ruled it could be confused with the programme and was in breach of its Code of Programme Sponsorship.
Two other channels have been castigated by the ITC for broadcasting premium-rate telephone sex calls as text messages on-screen, while women responded live on-air to the callers' requests.
Friendly TV, an unencrypted satellite channel, was ruled to be in serious breach of a number of ITC codes and was warned about its conduct.
Tantalise TV, an encrypted adult channel, was similarly warned.
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