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Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, told The Times that broadcasters "must never forget the level of trust that people hold in public service broadcasters" and "any activity that exploits people has got to be clamped down on very hard".

However, Jowell will allow regulators Icstis and Ofcom, which is currently studying broadcasters' activity, to take action before considering any change in the law.

Ictis is currently investigating four ITV shows including 'X Factor', in addition to BBC One's 'Saturday Kitchen' and Channel 4's 'Richard and Judy'.

The sensitivity around premium-rate activity was demonstrated yesterday, when it was admitted there had been a problem with text voting for Saturday's final of ITV1's celebrity ice skating contest 'Dancing On Ice'.

Mobile operator Vodafone issued a statement admitting a technical problem had resulted in 11,500 text votes coming in too late to count towards the total, and it would therefore refund customers affected.

ITV claimed that the late votes would not have changed the result of any part of the competition, which was won by England rugby star Kyran Bracken and his professional partner Melanie Lambert.