ITV investigated by watchdog over viewer competitions
ITV is facing a probe by the media watchdog over its viewer competitions after the broadcaster admitted that some postal entries were never counted in its prize draws.
ITV referred itself to Ofcom after discovering that some postal entries were not entered into the winner selection process for six competitions between 2014 and 2019.
The public service broadcaster operates competitions on shows including This Morning and The X Factor, charging viewers £2 to enter by phone, SMS or online. However, applications can be made free of charge via a postal vote.
ITV did not say which competitions had been affected and blamed the blunder on “unintentional administrative errors”.
“The integrity of all viewer competitions run by ITV is an absolute priority for us, therefore any related error is taken very seriously,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
“However, it is important to note the scale and nature of this particular issue, which affected only a very small number of our viewer competitions over a number of years. The six competitions amount to roughly one third of one percent of our competitions since 2014, and a tiny fraction of total entries.”
ITV said no entrants had been prevented from winning a prize as a result of the error, nor had the editorial content of any programmes been affected.
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We are investigating whether ITV breached our rules and licence requirements on viewer competitions.”
The controversy, first reported by The Times, comes more than a decade after the broadcaster was embroiled in a scandal over fake phone-ins.
The channel was forced to apologise and booked £18m in costs after it emerged that competitions on shows such as Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway were rigged by producers.
TV competitions are a significant source of revenue for the public service broadcaster, with direct to consumer revenue, including competitions, hitting £84m last year.
It comes at a torrid time for the company, which saw its first-half profit all but wiped out due to a collapse in advertising during the coronavirus crisis.
Chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall last week said the broadcaster had suffered “one of the most challenging times” in its history, but remained optimistic about a recovery in both advertising and production as lockdown eases.