Breakfast TV show phone-in 'conned millions of viewers'
Monday, 23 April 2007
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Millions of viewers who tried to enter a TV breakfast show's premium-rate phone competitions have been conned, a documentary will claim tonight.
Some callers and texters to GMTV stood no chance of winning because shortlists of potential winners were finalised "long before" phone lines closed, according to an investigation by BBC's Panorama.
The programme claims the amount of money these people spent trying to enter was an estimated £45,000 a day or £10m a year.
The alleged irregularity has been uncovered by Panorama following its investigation, which also looked at Channel 4's Richard and Judy and BBC's Blue Peter. The alleged scam is said to have taken place at the headquarters of the phone operator Opera Interactive Technology, which runs the competition line. GMTV has insisted it was not aware of the alleged time delay between choosing the winner and closing the phone lines but said it was "confident" its competition complied with industry standards. Opera has insisted there is "not a shred of truth" in the allegations.
However, Panorama claims an internal email it has uncovered proves Opera directors knew about the alleged scam. In the email, sent out in 2003, sales director Mark Nuttall tells his team: "Make sure [GMTV] never find out you are picking winners early!!" Panorama claims the email was also copied to his boss, Gary Corbett. Ofcom confirmed last night that it was investigating GMTV and Opera, following a number of complaints over the phone-in quiz. A spokesman for GMTV said: "Panorama's investigation has uncovered certain irregularities in the way Opera has been managing GMTV interactive services in the past. GMTV was not aware of these irregularities.
"GMTV is very concerned to ensure that its competitions are fair and comply with the respective Icstis and Ofcom codes and for that reason, more than a month ago, we instructed Deloitte to carry out an independent review of both GMTV's and Opera's current interactive systems and processes.
"On the basis of information available and Deloitte's findings, we are confident that our competitions are being operated in accordance with Ofcom and Icstis codes. While we believe that we do comply now we are putting in further control measures to ensure that compliance is maintained."
Opera told Panorama: "We have undertaken a preliminary investigation of these various allegations. The conclusion is there is not a shred of truth in any of the allegations."
Each morning tens of thousands of viewers call the premium rate number, hoping to claim a potential £20,000 cash prize by answering a simple multiple-choice question. Throughout the three-and-a-half-hour show, whose presenters include Lorraine Kelly and Kate Garraway, viewers are encouraged to make the £1.80 call.
Panorama also claims to have discovered that the practice of selecting early winners on Richard and Judy's You Say We Pay show had been going on for far longer than originally reported when the story broke in February. The couple apologised on air after it emerged a shortlist of winners was being picked before the competition phone lines had closed. Channel 4 originally admitted the practice started in the summer of 2006, but Panorama claims it had been running from summer 2004.
Panorama will be broadcast tonight on BBC1 at 8.30pm.
Phone-in fiascos
* In February, BBC1 show Saturday Kitchen is caught out asking viewers to call into a programme that had been pre-recorded
* On 1 March, ITV's X-Factor admits over-charging viewers £200,000 after a "problem" with their red button votes
* On 8 March, Channel Five's Brainteaser is exposed for using an employee to pose on air as a winner of a phone-in competition
* ITV's channel ITV Play is axed on 13 March after it was accused of ripping off its competition phone-in customers
* BBC's Blue Peter admits to a serious error of judgement on 14 March when it emerged one of the production team asked a girl visiting the studio to pose as a phone-in winner
* ITV's Dancing on Ice final on 17 March did not count 11,500 text votes, each costing 35p.
