Ant and Dec show among ITV programmes named and shamed for duping viewers

 

Last updated at 09:06am on 18th October 2007 Comments

ITV shows including Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway are to be named and shamed for duping viewers who made up to ten million calls to ITV phone-ins.

A report into the scandal will show how ITV viewers were conned out of tens of thousands of pounds by the early closing of competition phone lines and wrong winners being chosen.

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Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway is to be named and shamed for duping viewers

 

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• BBC inflicts MORE repeats on viewers as it slashes programme making by 10 per cent

While no single example is believed to compare in scale with the GMTV scandal, in which viewers wasted £35million on competitions they had no chance of winning, the 'bloodbath' report has shocked ITV insiders with the breadth of programmes implicated.

The report will show how callers were not able to enter competitions because of their geographical location and the failure to process calls and texts. This is believed to have resulted in ten million calls by viewers who had no chance of winning.

Executive chairman Michael Grade called in auditors Deloitte to trawl ITV programmes following a string of phone-in scandals this year across all broadcasters.

Mr Grade was criticised last night for trying to bury the bad news after deciding to reveal its findings on the day the BBC was due to announce the loss of up to 2,800 jobs. Other Ant and Dec programmes, Gameshow Marathon and I'm A Celebrity, are also likely to be named although there is no suggestion that the duo were aware of any of the problems.

Insiders say Mr Grade will face pressure to sack bosses after the BBC took a strong line over misleading footage of the Queen, which led to the resignation of BBC1 controller Peter Fincham.

While Deloitte investigated two years of transmissions, it is believed that Mr Grade will not publish the full report.

The study is believed to have omitted many programmes made by independent production companies after they refused to co-operate, causing anger among ITV staff.

A source said: 'The report describes how phone votes have been ignored, changed or adapted and cites cases where phone lines closed early. The BBC has raised the stakes over this.

Bad day for TV yesterday. The BBC getting rid of thousands of jobs just to keep the big "stars" on multi-million pound deals and ITV getting accused of ripping of viewers.

 

Do I hear the sound of the Serious Fraud Squad knocking?

The viewing public are fickle these days and will probably look to blame Ant and Dec themselves. I bet they're as pissed off as we (the public) are, as it isn't their fault.

Ant and Dec profits go to charity

 

TV presenters Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly are to donate the profits from their next series of Saturday Night Takeaway to charity.

 

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Note the word of "next" series, as the current series has just finished it won't be until next year the next series is aired.