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The regulator found the BBC to be in breach of its rules for misleading audiences with competitions on Comic Relief, Sport Relief and Children in Need programmes.

For a Comic Relief programme broadcast on BBC1 on 16 March 2007, Ofcom fined the BBC £45,000. The same amount relates to a Sport Relief programme on 15 July 2006. The Corporation was penalised £35,000 over Children in Need on 18 November 2005. The BBC was also hit by a £50,000 fine for TMi on BBC2 and CBBC on 16 September 2006.

Breaches of the code by radio programmes - including the Liz Kershaw Show on BBC 6 Music, the Jo Whiley Show on BBC Radio 1, Russell Brand on BBC 6 Music, and the Clare McDonnell Show on BBC 6 Music - cost the BBC £225,000.

In each of these cases, the BBC deceived its audience by faking winners of competitions and deliberately conducting competitions unfairly.

Ofcom said investigations found that, in some cases, the production team had taken premeditated decisions to broadcast competitions and encourage listeners to enter in the full knowledge that the audience stood no chance of winning. In other cases, programmes faced with technical problems, made up the names of winners.

The BBC did not receive any money from the calls.

The BBC Trust said in a statement that "the penalty in these cases reflects that the breaches were serious, deliberate and in some cases repeated".

"We published our report in May, which found clear evidence that the steps being taken would prevent a repeat of the practices that led to the failures. These editorial failures were serious and, through our work, we are confident they have been taken seriously by those involved. Our concern now is ensuring that the highest editorial standards are maintained to safeguard the public's trust."