So, Blue Peter is the latest TV show to have to admit to ripping off its viewers after a fuck up with one of its premium rate phone in features. Viewers were invited to phone in to take part in a competition on the show last November, but a technical fault meant that while the nearly 14,000 people who phoned in were each being charged 10p for their call, their information wasn't reaching the studio. So producers there did that 'get the kid who's in the studio already to pretend to be a caller' thing. Go on TV/radio types, admit it, you know the thing.
The ruse has come to light as attention has focused on TV companies' frequent habit of ripping off their viewers through premium rate phone in scams - but only because the mother of the child who pretended to be the caller revealed what had happened in an online debate on the issue. The BBC, unlike ITV, has not pulled premium phone features or called in independent investigators to review its premium phone systems, despite the obvious industry-wide failings in this domain, possibly because any profits from their phone in features go to charity and as we all know, it's fine ripping people off if it's in aid of charity.
Anyway, with the scam now in the public domain the BBC's kids TV people have been forced to apologise, with presenter Konnie Huq telling the show's viewers this week: "We'd like to say sorry to you because when this mistake happened we let you down. But to be honest with you, you kids are going to have to get used to TV companies ripping you off with premium phone line scams, so you might as well get used to it now, with a phone system that only takes 10p off you. Wait till you're a little bit older and we'll start stealing pounds off you". Well, she said some of that.