The 2007 British premium-rate phone-in scandal , sometimes referred to in the press as simply the phone-in scandal , relates to a series of controversies regarding the use of premium-rate telephone numbers (or PRS) by several British television and radio broadcasters. The first revelations began in February 2007 regarding the Channel 4 television programme Richard & Judy . However, over the following weeks, more allegations emerged regarding misconduct by major British broadcasters, including the BBC , ITV , Channel 4 and Channel 5 . The programmes affected included phone-in competitions and public votes conducted over several years, dating back to 2001. As a result, adjudicators Ofcom and ICSTIS (now known as Phone-paid Services Authority) conducted several investigations, resulting in millions of pounds worth of fines and a reform in the use of PRS by broadcasters.
68-497: Richard & Judy (also known as Richard & Judy's New Position ) is a British television chat show presented by the married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan . The show originally aired on Channel 4 from 26 November 2001 to 22 August 2008, but later moved to digital channel Watch from 7 October 2008 to 1 July 2009. Richard & Judy started with Channel 4 on 26 November 2001 and aired every weekday from 5pm to 6pm with breaks in-between. Between 2006 and 2008,
136-413: A contestant that had been voted off the show by paying viewers was then allowed back onto the programme, resulting in fines of almost £50,000 for the phone service providers. Between late 2006 and early 2007, Ofcom recorded breaches against broadcasters regarding the fairness of television quiz shows and competitions, including TWC , Channel 4 , ITV and Channel 5 . In January 2007, Gamecast UK
204-409: A talk show host . This discussion can be in the form of an interview or a simple conversation about important social, political or religious issues and events. The personality of the host shapes the tone and style of the show. A common feature or unwritten rule of talk shows is to be based on "fresh talk", which is talk that is spontaneous or has the appearance of spontaneity. The history of
272-612: A "comprehensive review" into the broadcaster's use of PRS in its programming. On 23 April, BBC's Panorama broadcast a show which investigated the use of PRS in multiple programmes, including GMTV and its competitions, which Opera Telecom provided. The Observer revealed that a crisis meeting had taken place on 26 September by the heads of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. Mark Thompson , Michael Grade , Andy Duncan and Jane Lighting were all in attendance to discuss their attempt to "restore public trust in broadcasting". The results of
340-433: A daily competition that involved a viewer at home describing images on a TV screen for the show's two presenters (the hosts cannot see the images, as the screen is behind them) to then identify without calling the displayed objects by their ordinary names. For each correct answer provided by Madeley and Finnigan, the viewer received £1000. In January 2006, MP and Celebrity Big Brother contestant George Galloway entered
408-462: A half minutes early, meaning that over 20,000 votes cast during this period were not counted. On this occasion, however, no statutory sanction was imposed. Ofcom described in their reports several unfair methods used to select competition winners in particular programmes, overriding the "random" selection requirements. These included: On several occasions, Ofcom sanctioned broadcasters for broadcasting competitions and other services "as live", whereas
476-476: A member of the production team posed as a "winner". Channel 4 suspended PRS following revelations of a "glitch" preventing callers from being entered into a competition on the racing programme The Morning Line . The first radio stations were named in the controversy on 12 March, after Virgin Radio admitted to inviting viewers to call a pre-recorded programme, and LBC being investigated for allegedly not revealing
544-495: A more universally appealing "interview" or "lifestyle TV" format. Talk shows have more recently started to appear on Internet radio. Also, several Internet blogs are in talk show format including the Baugh Experience. The current world record for the longest talk show is held by Rabi Lamichhane from Nepal by staying on air for 62 hours from April 11 to 13, 2013 breaking the previous record set by two Ukrainians by airing
612-577: A panel made up of different freelance comedians and celebrities each program, although the program is generally hosted by the same compere . Talk shows evolved in tandem with the Japanese variety show and it is very common for talk shows to borrow variety elements, typically by having celebrity guests attempt some kind of amusingly incongruous activity. Often, one of the guests will be a gaijin tarento (foreign talent) in order to provide comedy or to comment on matters related to Western culture. Comedic material
680-498: A special Children's Book Club edition of the show as part of Channel 4's "Lost For Words" season. The featured books were chosen with the help of pupils from several schools around the UK. The New Writers Book Club was a feature launched in October 2008 focusing on debut authors. Richard and Judy launched their wine club in 2005. Focusing on a different selection of wine each week, they reviewed
748-538: A specific programming block during the broadcast day. These formats are not absolute; some afternoon programs have similar structures to late-night talk shows. These formats may vary across different countries or markets. Late night talk shows are especially significant in the United States . Breakfast television is a staple of British television . The daytime talk format has become popular in Latin America as well as
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#1732890995376816-487: A statement that any profits from the next series of Saturday Night Takeaway would be donated to charity. Later, in May 2008, they stated that they would be returning their wrongfully awarded British Comedy Award from 2005. Catherine Tate , whose comedy sketch show was the rightful winner, explained on an episode of The Graham Norton Show that she had finally received her award, and joked about confronting Declan Donnelly in
884-409: A statement, Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards said: "Widespread concern about the use of premium rate telephone lines by broadcasters and editorial standards in those programmes has raised serious questions about trust between broadcasters and viewers. Ofcom has been monitoring the issue closely and has launched a number of individual investigations since the start of the year. However it is clear from
952-503: A supermarket. As a result of the scandal and the subsequent investigations and sanctions that followed, Ofcom announced its intention to raise the maximum fine that they could impose on ITV and its regional networks, stating that the current guidelines did not "provide sufficient incentives for the licensees to maintain broadcasting standards for the protection of members of the public from the inclusion of offensive and harmful material". In December 2020, Ofcom found ITV to be in breach of
1020-428: A talk show entitled Small World in the late 1950s and since then, political TV talk shows have predominantly aired on Sunday mornings . Syndicated daily talk shows began to gain more popularity during the mid-1970s and reached their height of popularity with the rise of the tabloid talk show . Morning talk shows gradually replaced earlier forms of programming — there were a plethora of morning game shows during
1088-558: A talk show. Ireland's The Late Late Show is the second-longest running talk show in television history, and the longest running talk show in Europe, having debuted in 1962. Steve Allen was the first host of The Tonight Show , which began as a local New York show, being picked up by the NBC network in 1954. It in turn had evolved from his late-night radio talk show in Los Angeles. Allen pioneered
1156-577: A variety of sharp topics related to people's livelihoods, the state system, and power structures. The show was eventually taken off the air as a direct result of the last episode of "Approaching Homosexuality." In 2012, Dragon Television created a new high-end cultural, American-style talk show called Tonight 80's Talk Show ; it is hosted by the comedian Wang Zijian , showing young people's attitudes and thoughts on social hotspots, cultural events, and fashion trends. 2007 British premium-rate phone-in scandal There had been some investigations into
1224-431: Is advised that the evidence does not support any allegation of criminal behaviour. ITV has identified and will take appropriate action in relation to each aspect of the findings of the review. Ofcom revealed that they had 23 open investigations against broadcasters, while ICSTIS had a further 15. On 22 March, Ofcom announced its intention to investigate the use of PRS on television, with an inquiry led by Richard Ayre. In
1292-603: Is commonly written and rehearsed before tapings with or without a live audience . Korean and Taiwanese talk shows have used the panel format similar to Japanese programs and rely on famous celebrities and comedic banter than topics. Their programs often shorten interviews from lengthy tapings. Rabi Lamichhane from Nepal previously held the Guinness World Record for longest talk show, continuously broadcasting for 62 hours in April 2013. In Brazil , Jô Soares inaugurated
1360-456: The Mail on Sunday reported that it had received leaked emails regarding the television programme Richard & Judy , which was broadcast nightly. In each programme, a competition named You Say We Pay ran, in which viewers were invited to call a premium-rate phone number for the chance of being randomly selected to play a game with the presenters . On 14 February 2007 at 5:09 pm, nine minutes into
1428-563: The Richard & Judy show shared this original timeslot with The Paul O'Grady Show , a programme that started in March 2006. For three months of each year, between 2006 and 2008, the Richard & Judy show occupied the 5pm to 6pm slot (January to March and June to August), and then the Paul O'Grady Show occupied the timeframe for the following three months (March to June and September to December). On
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#17328909953761496-424: The paranormal , conspiracy theories , and fringe science . Sports talk shows are also very popular ranging from high-budget shows like The Best Damn Sports Show Period to Max Kellerman 's original public-access television cable TV show Max on Boxing . Talk shows have been broadcast on television since the earliest days of the medium. Joe Franklin , an American radio and television personality, hosted
1564-400: The "New Position" section of its title and was called "Richard & Judy" again. By April 2009, ratings had slumped and the following month, an agreement was reached to terminate the show six months early. From the week of 8 June 2009, the show was reduced to a single weekly episode that aired at 4pm every Wednesday. The show's final episode was broadcast on 1 July 2009. "You Say We Pay" was
1632-513: The 15 August 2008 edition of the show, Richard stated that the following week's episode would be the last with Channel 4 and the final broadcast occurred on 22 August 2008. Following the show's departure from Channel 4, the producers of Richard & Judy subsequently signed a £ 2 million deal with the UKTV network Watch. Madeley and Finnigan renamed the show and hosted Richard & Judy's New Position from 7 October 2008. The couple stated that
1700-669: The 1960s and early to mid-1970s, and some stations formerly showed a morning movie in the time slot that many talk shows now occupy. Current late night talk shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon , Conan and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert have aired featuring celebrity guests and comedy sketches. Syndicated daily talk shows range from tabloid talk shows , such as Jerry Springer and Maury , to celebrity interview shows, like Live with Kelly and Ryan , Tamron Hall , Sherri , Steve Wilkos , The Jennifer Hudson Show and The Kelly Clarkson Show , to industry leader The Oprah Winfrey Show , which popularized
1768-424: The 9th and 10th placed contestants being put forward to the overnight vote to evict, the actual results were disregarded. The 7th and 8th placed contestants were put forward for the vote instead. Another aspect of voting for the show involved the public voting for which song they would like the contestants to sing. On at least eight occasions, the production team overrode the vote and decided for themselves which songs
1836-515: The Broadcasting Code and their competition licensing conditions. ITV made Ofcom aware that, following mandatory third-party verification of its competitions, 40,000 postal entries into six competitions between 2016 and 2019 had failed to be included. Postal entries are free to enter (excluding delivery costs ). Ofcom opined that: "ITV failed to properly implement and execute procedures that are fundamental to ensuring compliance with rules regarding
1904-473: The Deloitte report was published in October 2007, Ant and Dec , who presented two of the affected programmes, expressed "disappointment" at the findings of the investigations, making it clear that they had "no idea" that compliance failures were occurring. This was seconded by director of ITV Michael Grade, describing the pair's credits as executive producers as "kind of a vanity credit". Ant and Dec confirmed in
1972-413: The Deloitte review were published in a report on 18 October. Described as "the most comprehensive review carried out into the use of PRS by any UK broadcaster", the report identified "serious or concerning issues in a limited number of ITV programmes". The report stated, regarding the various issues: ITV has taken specialist legal advice in respect of each of the specific issues set out in this document and
2040-682: The USA. Each year the segment featured ten books and discussions during the programme, often with guests. Alongside the discussions and programme features, the novels contended for the Richard & Judy Book of the Year Award, presented at the British Book Awards , where the winner was chosen by votes from the public. The Richard and Judy Book Club debuted as a website in autumn 2010, run in conjunction with retailer WH Smith . In 2007, Richard and Judy hosted
2108-511: The United States. These genres also do not represent "generic" talk show genres. "Generic" genres are categorized based on the audiences' social views of talks shows derived through their cultural identities, fondness, preferences and character judgements of the talk shows in question. The subgenres listed above are based on television programming and broadly defined based on the TV guide rather than on
Richard & Judy - Misplaced Pages Continue
2176-499: The allegations regarding Richard & Judy , ICSTIS began to investigate the BBC's cookery show Saturday Kitchen - also produced by Cactus TV - after it was alleged that nine editions of the programme had invited viewers to call a PRS - also provided by Eckoh - even though the broadcasts were pre-recorded and viewers' calls had no chance of being put through. On 28 February, it was also reported that ITV had admitted to overcharging viewers via its " red button " voting service during
2244-474: The answer to a wordsearch -style game was announced as "TUNA", despite the grid not containing the letter U. In a Glitterball word-making game, the answer "HATCH" had been derived from the word "ENCHANTED", despite rules stating that letters could only be used once, and only one letter H was available. Though Ofcom recorded breaches, no sanctions were issued. Below is a table containing a list of breaches and, where relevant, sanctions imposed by Ofcom, including
2312-611: The audience. Talk-radio host Howard Stern also hosted a talk show that was syndicated nationally in the US, then moved to satellite radio's Sirius . The tabloid talk show genre, pioneered by Phil Donahue in 1967 but popularized by Oprah Winfrey , was extremely popular during the last two decades of the 20th century. Politics are hardly the only subject of American talk shows, however. Other radio talk show subjects include Car Talk hosted by NPR and Coast to Coast AM hosted by Art Bell and George Noory which discusses topics of
2380-432: The broadcaster's name and the programme it related to. Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan , presenters of the first identified problematic programme, apologised to their viewers on their programme while denying any knowledge of wrongdoing on their programme. Finnigan stated: "Richard and I knew nothing about this until late on Friday afternoon - we were very shocked and also angry on your behalf. We're very sorry." After
2448-730: The cases did not "meet the SFO criterion for acceptance for investigation". Between June 2007 and October 2009, Ofcom published the findings of their investigations into breaches of its Broadcasting Code about the use of PRS. This resulted in over £11 million of fines and statutory sanctions on networks. In September 2007, ICSTIS found service provider Opera Telecom to be in breach of its code regarding its provision of competitions for GMTV. Over several years, broadcasters, service providers, and programme producers breached Ofcom's Broadcasting Code in various ways. Some were foreseeable errors, and others were deliberate interventions to alter results. One of
2516-424: The competition and won his housemates' weekly shopping budget. Lionel Blair , Abi Titmuss and Carol Vorderman also participated in "You Say We Pay" whilst they were guests on the programme. On 18 February 2007, the Mail on Sunday reported that it had received leaked emails from the programme, which suggested that viewers were being invited to call the show for a chance of entering the competition, even though
2584-523: The contestants would sing. ITV acknowledged that junior members of staff who objected to these actions were "firmly sat upon" by senior producers. Ofcom opined that the programme-makers "showed their total contempt for ITV1’s audience" in manipulating the votes in this way, and described their behaviour as "absolutely reprehensible". Ofcom also recorded a breach against ITV relating to the programme I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! after it emerged that, on 30 November 2006, voting had closed three and
2652-466: The first television talk show. The show began in 1951 on WJZ-TV (later WABC-TV ) and moved to WOR-TV (later WWOR-TV ) from 1962 to 1993. NBC's The Tonight Show is the world's longest-running talk show; having debuted in 1954, it continues to this day. The show underwent some minor title changes until settling on its current title in 1962, and despite a brief foray into a more news-style program in 1957 and then reverting that same year, it has remained
2720-421: The format of late night network TV talk shows, originating such talk show staples as an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, and comedy bits in which cameras were taken outside the studio, as well as music, although the series' popularity was cemented by second host Jack Paar , who took over after Allen had left and the show had ceased to exist. TV news pioneer Edward R. Murrow hosted
2788-421: The former genre and has been evolving towards the latter. On November 10, 2010, Oprah Winfrey invited several of the most prominent American talk show hosts - Phil Donahue , Sally Jessy Raphael , Geraldo Rivera , Ricki Lake , and Montel Williams - to join her as guests on her show. The 1990s in particular saw a spike in the number of "tabloid" talk shows, most of which were short-lived and are now replaced by
Richard & Judy - Misplaced Pages Continue
2856-401: The four main television stations. Due to language and cultural differences, Japanese TV stations could not freely use syndicated programs (mostly from Europe and North America) and therefore turned to panel shows , which could be produced cheaply and easily, to fill time during daytime programming. Japanese panel shows are distinct in generally not employing regular panelists but instead having
2924-432: The genre with Jô Soares Onze e Meia ("Jô Soares Eleven Thirty") from 1988 to 1999 on SBT . In 2000, Soares took his show's format to TV Globo , where it was then called Programa do Jô , and was broadcast until 2016. Jô's main competitors at the time were Danilo Gentili and Fábio Porchat . In 1999, Speak Up , hosted by Ma Dong , son of the famous Chinese comedian Ma Ji , was born as an early talk show "chatting" about
2992-452: The greater phone-in scandal . As a result of the controversy, Channel 4 received a £150,000 fine from ICSTIS , and a further £1 million fine from Ofcom. There was no evidence to suggest that Madeley or Finnigan had any knowledge of the scandal. In 2004, the Richard & Judy Book Club was added as a regular segment of the show. It was credited as having a massive effect on the sales of the books it featured, much like Oprah's Book Club in
3060-792: The interaction of viewers created difficult moments and awkward silences to hosts who usually used audience responses to transition conversations. Tetsuko's Room ( 徹子の部屋 , Tetsuko no Heya ) is a talk show hosted by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi and broadcast on TV Asahi from February 2, 1976, every Monday to Friday from 13:00 to 13:30 ( JST ). It is a long-lived program, and as of 2022, it has been broadcast for 47 years and more than 11,000 times, repeatedly winning Guinness World Records . Other talk shows include Nichiyō Tōron (1994 onwards), Ametalk! (2003 onwards) and Takeda Tetsuya no Shōwa wa kagayaiteita (2013 onwards). In Japan , panel shows called tōku bangumi (トーク番組) are very commonplace, accounting for about 30% of daytime and prime-time programming on
3128-418: The lack of cooperation it received" from members of the production. Similar breaches were also recorded against the programme Soapstar Superstar . On 5 January 2007, senior producers finalised the vote two minutes before the lines had closed, while presenter Zoe Ball continued to invite viewers to vote. After the vote closed, the last (11th) placed contestant in the vote was eliminated. However, instead of
3196-406: The more specific categorizations of talk show viewers. However, there is a lack of research on "generic" genres, making it difficult to list them here. According to Mittell, "generic" genres is of significant importance in further identifying talk show genres because with such differentiation in cultural preferences within the subgenres, a further distinction of genres would better represent and target
3264-431: The most prolific methods used by programmes during this period was using fake winners in competitions. Between 25 July 2005 and 17 March 2007, ten different programmes announced fictitious names and winners of their contests. This included eight BBC programmes, Channel 5's BrainTeaser , and GCap's Secret Sound , which was broadcast on 30 different radio stations. Some of the entries to the competition were fabricated by
3332-435: The new version would be "a high octane prime time show", with Madeley explaining, "we [Madeley and Finnigan] were both hugely impressed with the team at UKTV, and their proposal was attractive and fun and will give us the kind of flexibility in our personal lives which we have been looking for". The presenters continued featuring the programme's popular " Book Club " that had begun on their Channel 4 show. The Watch version of
3400-468: The number of cases underway that a broader set of issues need to be examined as a matter of priority. This inquiry will seek to establish the root cause of the compliance issues which have emerged over recent weeks, and inform key decisions about protecting consumers." Though it was reported in October 2007 that the Serious Fraud Office would be investigating the scandal, they later announced that
3468-476: The premium-rate payment mechanism." On 6 March, ITV suspended all premium-rate telephone services, though certain services resumed on 13 March. Though the BBC and Channel 5 initially stated that they had no plans to suspend PRS, Channel 5 did so on 8 March, reporting that on five separate occasions, after their programme BrainTeaser had failed to find a winning contestant to their competitions, broadcast fictitious names as "winners", including one incident where
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#17328909953763536-818: The price of phone calls to listeners. On 13 March, Eckoh announced that they were referring the scandal to the police, following allegations that it mishandled votes relating to the sixth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here . The BBC revealed that two of its children's programmes were affected: Blue Peter had faked a competition winner after a technical fault prevented callers from getting through; and pre-recorded repeats of Smile had invited viewers to call in when they had no chance of getting through. Other ITV programmes that were named as being investigated included Soapstar Superstar , Dancing on Ice , Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? , Gameshow Marathon and Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway . In March 2007, ITV appointed Deloitte to conduct
3604-529: The production team, and, in a few instances, members of the production staff appeared on the programme posing as winners. On one occasion, during the broadcast of Blue Peter , a child visiting the studio was asked by a researcher to pretend to be a competition winner, which they did. This resulted in an additional recorded breach against the BBC for failing to protect the welfare of children. The 2004 and 2005 National Comedy Awards both featured two pre-recorded half-hour segments inviting viewers to vote for
3672-412: The programme, Eckoh (the telephone service provider) emailed Cactus TV (the production company) a list of 24 potential winners, from which one winner would be chosen. However, ten minutes later, a second message was broadcast inviting viewers to continue to call in, even though nobody calling after Eckoh's email was sent had any chance of being entered. The report also clarified that it had no evidence that
3740-407: The programmes were pre-recorded, and anyone who called to use the services offered had no chance of doing so. These included five editions of Tony Blackburn , eight editions of Dermot O'Leary and 31 different broadcasts on ITV2's timeshift service, ITV2+1, broadcast an hour later. Though a breach was recorded against ITV regarding a similar incident during a repeat of People's Court , no sanction
3808-480: The recipient of the People's Choice Award. In real-time, the award had already been presented on both occasions, but viewers were still asked to vote. During the 2005 awards, a decision was taken to override the public vote for the People's Choice Award. Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway was named the winner, whereas the show with the highest number of votes was actually The Catherine Tate Show . The reason for
3876-559: The show featured a sofa area for interviews, as well as a bar area where the star guests and the show's crew members gathered during broadcasts. Each week the show employed a celebrity barman; comedian Rufus Hound undertook the role in the first week's episode. Hound had been a frequent guest on the Channel 4 series. The first episode of the Watch series attracted an average audience of around 200,000 viewers (this figure included those who watched
3944-399: The show for 52 hours in 2011. In 2020, the fear of the spread of the coronavirus led to large changes in the operation of talk shows, with many being filmed without live audiences to ensure adherence to the rules of social distancing . The inclusion of a live, participating audience is one of the attributes that contribute to the defining characteristics of talk shows. Operating without
4012-423: The show on Watch+1). The second episode, in the 8pm timeslot, attracted 53,000 viewers. Watch channel representatives were reportedly satisfied with the ratings , stating that the show had started well. Ratings consistently fell for subsequent episodes, reaching a new low of 11,000 viewers. Following a Christmas break at the end of 2008, the show returned on 13 January 2009 in a new 6pm slot. The show also dropped
4080-420: The show's presenters, Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, had any knowledge of the issues. On 22 February, following Channel 4's admittance that several series of the programme could have been affected and a claim from a contestant that the problems existed in 2002, ICSTIS announced their intention to conduct an inquiry into the programme. On 28 February, Eckoh pulled out of its contract with Cactus TV. Following
4148-415: The switch has never been identified, though Ofcom investigated two theories. The first theory was that Robbie Williams , who presented the award, would appear on the programme only if he could present it to Ant and Dec ; the second theory was that employees of ITV instructed the switch ( Takeaway was an ITV show, whereas Catherine Tate was broadcast on BBC One). Ofcom expressed its "[disappointment] at
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#17328909953764216-436: The talk show spans back from the 1950s to the present. Talk shows can also have several different subgenres, which all have unique material and can air at different times of the day via different avenues. Beyond the inclusion of a host, a guest(s), and a studio or call-in audience, specific attributes of talk shows may be identified: There are several major formats of talk shows. Generally, each subgenre predominates during
4284-405: The third series of The X Factor - resulting in £200,000 in extra charges to viewers - and had reported their findings to ICSTIS. On 1 March, ICSTIS chairman Sir Alistair Graham invited senior executives of the UK's leading broadcasters to a meeting to discuss the emerging allegations, stating: "My concern is that these problems are resulting in a loss of viewer trust in participation TV and in
4352-415: The use of PRS in television programmes in the years leading up to 2007. In 2005, Ofcom found two broadcasters to be in breach of their licensing conditions for failure to maintain recordings of quiz programmes following complaints about their handling of competitions. In October 2006, ICSTIS received 2,635 complaints regarding the seventh series of Channel 4 's reality television show Big Brother , after
4420-401: The wines and gave tasting notes to the viewers. Chat show A talk show is a television programming , radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation . A talk show is distinguished from other television programs by certain common attributes. In a talk show, one person (or group of people or guests) discusses various topics put forth by
4488-447: The winner had already been chosen. On 22 February, following Channel 4's admittance that several series of the programme could have been affected and a claim from a contestant that the problems existed in 2002, ICSTIS announced their intention to conduct an inquiry into the programme. The programme was the first in a long line of British programmes that had misled audiences into calling premium-rate numbers under false pretences, leading to
4556-400: Was issued a fine of £100,000 for its broadcast of pre-recorded competitions inviting viewers to call a premium rate number when they had no chance of winning, in addition to other serious code breaches regarding the broadcast of pornographic material and other unauthorised broadcasts. Gamecast's licence was ultimately revoked in April 2007 after failing to pay the fine. On 18 February 2007,
4624-405: Was issued. The BBC were sanctioned for repeating a falsified competition from Blue Peter (see above) on CBBC . In the case of Gameshow Marathon , ITV was sanctioned for its "lack of clarity" regarding whether people entering competitions via SMS had been included. In two of ITV2's competitions — The Mint and Glitterball — incorrect answers had been announced as correct. In The Mint ,
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