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ITN
Richard and Judy phone-in fine
Richard and Judy phone-in fine
The company behind Richard and Judy's scandal-hit You Say, We Pay phone competition has been handed a record fine for fleecing viewers.Eckoh UK Ltd has been given a £150,000 fine for choosing competition winners while presenters Richard and Judy were still urging viewers to call in and win a cash prize.Premium rate services regulator Icstis is also forcing the company to give refunds to viewers who paid £1 every time they phoned in hoping to be chosen to play the game live on air.Icstis said 47 per cent of calls were received after the shortlist of winners had already been chosen and that Eckoh was guilty of a "reckless disregard for viewers".Announcing the fine, Icstis chairman Sir Alistair Graham said: "The size of the fine reflects the very serious nature of the breach of our Code of Practice."Winners were being chosen before the competition closing deadline, whilst millions of additional viewers were still encouraged to phone in and pay to enter the competition but were denied the opportunity of fair consideration."He added: "Such reckless disregard for viewers is unacceptable. In this case, viewers were not only 'paying competition entrants' but also consumers who enjoy a high degree of consumer protection already provided by Icstis."There is no doubt that the public thoroughly enjoys taking part in premium rate competitions and votes on television."However, as well as being entertaining and fun, services should be reliable and trustworthy."Eckoh complained that it had been made a "scapegoat" and that it would consider appealing.The watchdog is now referring the case to broadcasting regulator Ofcom, which it said may wish to investigate the actions of the parties involved under the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.Blue Peter and GMTV were hit my similar scandals.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
ITN | July 6, 2007
