Earlier this week, premium-rate phone services regulator Icstis hit Opera Telecom, the phone line company that unfairly made money from GMTV competitions, with its maximum possible fine of £250,000.
The broadcast regulator has also stipulated that GMTV, which is 75% owned by ITV and 25% by Disney, must broadcast a summary of its findings on three separate occasions.
The size of the fine equals the record fine applied to Carlton TV over fake documentary 'The Connection'. Media reports ahead of Ofcom's announcement put the fine in the region of £2.5m.
Ofcom's content sanctions committee has issued a 24-page ruling on the case, in which it describes four types of misconduct in GMTV competitions between August 2003 and February 2007.
In the committee's view, "the breaches constituted a substantial breakdown in the fundamental relationship of trust between a public service broadcaster and its viewers".
GMTV said: "GMTV accepts Ofcom's judgement and, as broadcaster, takes full responsibility for the breaches of the Ofcom Broadcasting Code."
The committee also concluded GMTV's handling of its relationship with Opera Telecom, which managed the phone-in competitions and profited from the misconduct, was "both irresponsible and negligent".
It was particularly concerned that GMTV's management had made no audit of the processes and procedures followed by Opera, despite the importance of the competitions to GMTV's finances. The competitions accounted for 35%-40% of GMTV's annual profit.
The four types of misconduct described in Ofcom's report were:
- Opera staff picking the list of competition finalists up to three hours before lines closed (between August 2003 and May 2005);
- GMTV and Opera staff picking 15 finalists between 6am and 8.30am and five finalists between 8.30am and 9am, giving later callers less chance of being selected (between May 2005 and August 2006);
- Opera staff selecting the final five finalists up to three minutes before the lines closed at 9am, giving those who entered after this no chance (between May 2005 and August 2006);
- Opera shift workers selecting finalists before they came off duty at 8am, an hour before lines closed (between June 2005 and February 2007).
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