ITV's funny money
Comedy Awards hit by phone-in scandal
The British Comedy Awards has become embroiled in the phone-vote scandal rocking the television industry.Viewers continued to vote for the People’s Choice award during the 2005 ceremony for up to half an hour after the winner had already been chosen, The Sun claims today.
Only the first 90 minutes of the show was live, before the broadcast broke for the news at 10.30pm.
However, in the studio, the ceremony continued regardless, and was recorded, then screened immediately after the news.
Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway was announced as winner during the period, even though fans continued to ring in, unaware of that fact until the delayed footage returned to ITV.
Calls went to a premium rate phone number, costing about 35p a time, but it is not known how much ITV’s share of the profits would have been.
All of ITV’s phone-ins are currently being investigated by auditors Deloitte in a bid to stem the scandal, and the company is not commenting on specific claims until this is complete.
Published: 26 Jul 2007
