Fears over phone voting

This year's British Comedy Awards have been dropped by ITV.

The broadcaster has pulled out of the event for the first time in 17 years because of the ongoing scandal about phone voting.

Media law firm Olswang has been called in to investigate claims of irregularities during the phone-in vote for the people’s choice award at the 2005 event.

ITV said in a statement this afternoon that it had ‘postponed’ its broadcast of the 2007 awards.

It is not known whether the production company Michael Hurll Television will be seeking another broadcaster, but it has been reported that the event will still go ahead, hosted by Jonathan Ross.

The ITV statement said: ‘ITV have today asked media law firm Olswang to conduct an investigation into an issue that has arisen in respect of the British Comedy Awards 2007.

‘Pending conclusion of the investigation, broadcast of the British Comedy Awards 2007 will be postponed. ITV will not make any further comment regarding this matter until the conclusion of the investigation.’

A spokesman for Michael Hurll TV said: 'The awards are definitely taking place, Jonathan Ross is committed and the nominations process is getting under way. ITV had the broadcasting rights but the awards are now open to other broadcasters.'

A source told trade website Broadcastnow: ‘The decision to postpone broadcasting the British Comedy Awards goes above [director of comedy and entertainment] Paul Jackson and [director of television] Simon Shaps. This comes straight from the top. [ITV [executive chairman] Michael Grade has been very clear about his 'zero tolerance' position.’

It has previously been reported that in 2005 the phone lines had remained open after the winning show – Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway – had been selected, so collecting money from viewers who were tricked into thinking they were still influencing the final decision.

The problem arose because 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, and was shown with a time delay of about 40 minutes. However, Ant And Dec’s victory was announced when the show was no longer live, so viewers were still calling in at 35p a time before the results were given.

Published: 21 Sep 2007