ITV fined millions for phone fraud ITV must pay £5.67m in fines for misleading viewers using its premium rate phonelines - the largest fine regulator Ofcom has ever imposed. The broadcaster will also pay out £7.8m in viewer compensation and to charity. The bulk of the fine was earned by Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, which must pay £3m for misleading …
"Finally, and for the avoidance of doubt, there is no suggestion that Robbie Williams, Anthony McPartlin or Declan Donnelly were aware of any of these issues."
Meaning: "..and there had better not be, either."
I'd be interested to know how the fine was calculated and whether or not the company and individuals involved are still better-off for running these scams. Somehow I suspect they are still giggling all the way to the bank.
My forumla would be..
Add all income from phone calls to the programs, along with all advertising revenue generated by them, add 20%.
These 'awards' have zero validity, importance or interest. It's like the Top 100 Whatever that Channel 5 etc use as schedule fodder. The idea of having to choose between Ant & Dec and Catherine Tate is the choice between eating polyester or nylon. Neither tasty nore good for you.
One could argue that people who watch this tat are too thick to understand any of this anyway. Perhaps Ant and Dec should present an "ITV Big Fine Saturday Special Extravaganza" where the couch potatoes vote for which charity the money goes to? There could be Tonight-style "investigative journalism" pieces with scary music so they know who the baddies are.
I emailed the Beeb at the weekend to ask when they would be broadcasting Doctor Who episodes without Donna Noble/Catherine Tate. I have loved that program my whole life, but I just can't watch it any more. As soon as the BBC can be bovvered to return my email, I'll post the dates here. And on every other website known to man, woman, dalek, sontaran, ood...
If a little company like ITV can be fined so much for a little fraud in the overall scale of things, then how much should the big banks be fined for end-running around the regulations on their capital reserves by lending and then shoving the loans off balance sheet?
Like so much else, regulation is a simulation which requires occasional exercise in peripheral areas, as here, to occlude the fact that there is no regulation at the rotten core.
The company should've been fined the amount of fraud + a discretionary fine (i.e. 12 million minimum), and the executive producers of the show should've been fined as well. They are executive producers for a reason, and they should be aware of the consequences of this kind of fraud.
www.gallowgatetv.com
"Gallowgate was founded in 2004 by two of British TV’s most successful stars, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly."
"Gallowgate co-produces Saturday Night Takeaway and shares an interest in the format and ancillary rights with ITV"
Nice "work" if you can get it; better still if you can persuade loads of other suckers... viewers to pay you handsomely for it.
But if you get caught with your fingers in the till, as they and others have been, it should be more than a few quid at stake.
Tegan was the annoying Australian.
J-Wick is probably thinking of Peri, who pretended to be American.
I can't stand Tate either but acknowledge this is merely personal prejudice and bear her no ill will.
Whatever our irrational feelings about the woman, if she received most votes she should have been given the award.
after: "Just rang Ofcom - the fine goes to the Treasury"... nice one, so the general public gets ripped off by a bunch of media crooks in cahootz with a bunch of telecommunications crooks, then the general public pay for the investigation via the Government Coffers and finally the fine (gathered from profits made by abusing the general public with adverts) goes straight to the treasury.
And they refer to the Triads as "organised crime". If I want to get shafted, I'd prefer to use my own thumb.
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