ITV postpones Comedy Awards after phone irregularities

LONDON - ITV is postponing the 'British Comedy Awards' following alleged irregularities with phone voting and has appointed media law firm Olswang to conduct an investigation into the 2005 show.

The commercial broadcaster said: ""ITV has today asked media law firm Olswang to conduct an investigation into an issue that has arisen in respect of the 'British Comedy Awards 2005'.

"Pending conclusion of the investigation, broadcast of the 'British Comedy Awards 2007' will be postponed."

The allegations of irregularity were made in July by The Sun, which claimed viewers of the 'British Comedy Awards' were asked to vote for their favourite show after the winner had been picked.

According to the report, voting continued for the people's choice award for the December 2005 ceremony even though the final section of the show was not aired live on ITV1.

Viewers were allegedly still encouraged to vote for the people's choice award, which was won by 'Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'.

ITV said it will not make any further comment on the investigation until it is concluded.

At the same time, ITV has revealed the results of an investigation into the controversial documentary, 'Malcolm and Barbara: Love's Farewell', which has cleared the broadcaster of any wrongdoing.

The documentary, which charted Malcolm Pointon's struggle with Alzheimer's, was transmitted by ITV on August 8.

In its publicity campaign building up to the screening of the documentary, ITV claimed the programme would feature the moment of Pointon's death. The claim led to a stormy reaction and was later found to be untrue.

In fact, Pointon died some days after the last scene in the film, leading to an investigation headed up by Olswang into who was responsible for the error.

Olswang found that a misunderstanding arose from the ambiguity in the language used by Paul Watson, the documentary maker, in describing his film and the ambiguity of its final scenes.

The law firm has attributed no blame to the ITV programme press and publicity department.

In a statement issued by ITV, Olswang said: "It is clear that, as both producer and broadcaster, ITV must take overall responsibility for the film and its promotion. Notwithstanding this, the Olswang Report concludes that ITV was not knowingly involved in any misrepresentation of what the film showed and that, having established the error, it acted appropriately and expeditiously in issuing a clarification and ensuring that the film clarified the issue on transmission."

The law firm said the case has identified a shortcoming in the way ITV works with producers and directors ,who are effectively in sole charge of the filming and editing process.

In response to this criticism, ITV has promised to strengthen its "compliance procedures".

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