Ofcom is to carry out more than 20 separate investigations reaching across the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five. The premium-rate phoneline watchdog Icstis is conducting a further 15 investigations.
Michael Grade, ITV's executive chairman, along with Jane Lighting, chief executive of Five, and Andy Duncan, Channel 4 chief executive, will now be called to explain their companies' actions in front of a House of Commons media select committee.
Each of their channels have been embroiled in the premium-rate phone number scandal. It is now likely that the BBC's director-general Mark Thompson will be called to defend his channel's actions.
Five has been accused of deceiving the public through its quiz show 'Brainteaser', which put fictional names on screen as winners, instead of informing viewers that no winning caller had been found before the winner was due to be announced.
In the last few weeks, BBC One's 'Saturday Kitchen', Channel 4's 'Richard and Judy', ITV's 'X Factor', 'Dancing on Ice' and 'Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway' have all been accused of irregularities.
Over the weekend, it was revealed that one of the BBC's children's programmes 'Smile' had misled viewers by encouraging them to take part in a live game that had, in fact, been pre-recorded.
Thompson has apologised for any mishandling of premium-rate phone voting on the broadcaster's channels, calling the situation "very regrettable".
Speaking to BBC One's 'Sunday AM' programme, Thompson said that he accepted that there had been errors of judgement when handling phone voting, and that it was now the corporation's mission to "rebuild public trust".
He said that the latest incident, involving a competition on children's programme 'Blue Peter' when callers could not get through to the programme, was down to a "blind panic on the studio floor".
An incident involving 'Saturday Kitchen', when viewers were fooled into believing that they were phoning a live programme when it was, in fact, pre-recorded, was blamed on "sloppiness" on behalf of the programme by Thompson.
He added: "[The BBC] shouldn't even unintentionally mislead the audience. It is incredibly important that when people phone in one of these circumstances, it should be fair."
In other news, Deloitte, the independent auditor working on behalf of ITV, has cleared the broadcaster's 'Saturday Cooks', 'Daily Cooks', 'Loose Women' and 'Soapstar Superchef' programmes of any wrongdoings.
In a statement, the broadcaster said: "ITV can confirm that Deloitte have performed the first stage of their review of the interactive processes and procedures contained within 'Saturday Cooks', 'Daily Cooks', 'Loose Women' and 'Soapstar Superchef'.
"On the basis of the information available, including Deloitte's findings, ITV is satisfied that these programmes are being operated in accordance with the Icstsis and Ofcom codes. As part of our complete commitment to ongoing compliance, ITV will continue to observe the operation of interactive services with Deloitte's assistance."
ITV also said that Deloitte was still completing its initial review of other current shows and it was hoping to make more announcements next week.
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