Ofcom hits BBC with £400,000 phone-in fine

LONDON - Ofcom has fined the BBC a whopping 拢400,000 for faking winners for competitions in eight TV and radio shows between 2005 and 2007.

The biggest fine was £115,000 and related to BBC 6 Music's 'The Liz Kershaw Show' which, Ofcom judged, faked winners of the competitions 'Ruff Riff' and 'Listening Post' on up to 17 occasions between July 25 2005 and January 6 2007.

The faking of winners was pre-meditated, according to Ofcom's report, which states competition segments were pre-recorded and passed off as live with the full knowledge of the production team and the presenter. It claims 1,000 genuine SMS entries from listeners stood no chance of winning.

The report describes as "totally unacceptable" the inadequacy of the risk management and compliance process at the station.

The BBC will have to broadcast a statement of Ofcom's findings on two occasions on 6 Music.

The eight penalties also included £45,000 fines for BBC One's high-profile charity TV extravaganzas 'Comic Relief' in 2007 and 'Sport Relief' in 2006.

Ofcom acknowledged some cases, including 'Sport Relief', involved faking a winner due to technical problems with running phone-ins on a live programme. It had already fined BBC One £50,000 in July last year for a similar case on 'Blue Peter', where a member of the studio audience was asked to pose as a caller.

In the 'Sport Relief' case a production co-ordinator stood in when a problem with the telephone call routing system meant no one's call could be taken during a live 'Mastermind' themed quiz.

Ofcom said that overall it found that the BBC "failed to have adequate management oversight of its compliance and training procedures to ensure the audience was not misled".

The other TV cases were a £35,000 fine in relation to 'Children In Need' on BBC One Scotland in 2005 and a £50,000 fine relating to 'TMi' on BBC Two and CBBC in 2006.

The other radio cases were a £75,000 fine relating to 'The Jo Whiley Show' on Radio 1 for instances between April 20 and May 12 2006; a £17,5000 fine relating to 'Russell Brand' on 6 Music in April 2006 and 'The Clare McDonnell Show' on 6 Music from September 2006.

Although viewers and listeners paid the cost of their calls to take part in the competitions the BBC did not receive any money from the entries.

The BBC Trust put out a statement saying it regretted the breaches and the fines, but was confident that the remedial action since taken by the corporation would prevent similar editorial failures happening again.

It said: "The Trust regrets that these serious breaches by the BBC have led to a financial penalty being applied by Ofcom and the loss of licence fee payers' money as a result ...

"The BBC made a public apology last summer and a firm commitment to put its house in order. After management implemented its action plan, the Trust commissioned an independent assessment, not just of whether what had been promised had been delivered, but whether the actions were having the right impact.

"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."

Market Reports

Get unprecedented new-business intelligence with access to 北京赛车pk10’s new Market Reports.

Find out more

Enjoying 北京赛车pk10’s content?

 Get unlimited access to 北京赛车pk10’s premium content for your whole company with a corporate licence.

Upgrade access

Looking for a new job?

Get the latest creative jobs in advertising, media, marketing and digital delivered directly to your inbox each day.

Create an alert now

Partner content