Blue Peter has been fined £50,000 by media regulator OfCom for that previously reported incident when a phone in system failed so producers got a kid who was already in the studio to pretend to take part in a phone in quiz, even though those phoning in were being charged for their calls. The regulator said it was imposing the unprecedented fine for both the "negligence" producers were guilty of in conning their viewers, and for "making a child complicit" in the deception. £5000 of the fine was because the BBC repeated the offending show on its CBBC channel.
Of course the only problem with OfCom fining the BBC is that the general public - that is to say, licence fee payers - ultimately pay it, unless producers and senior execs get it docked from their pay packets. Which the Nazi inside me says they should, but we all know that won't happen.
In related news, premium phone line regulator Icstis recently imposed its highest ever fine on the company which provides the phone in service for the Richard & Judy Show's 'You Say, We Pay' competition - who, of course, were picking people to take part in the feature before viewers were told to stop phoning in. That cock up could also cost phone firm Eckoh and Channel 4 up to £2.5million because they have pledged to refund every caller who lost out, and Icstis reckons that might be up to half the 5 million people who called in to the pound-a-time phone line while the 'pick a competitor early' scam was going on.
All in all, TV producers are going to be much more careful with their rip off phone in features in the future.