GMTV boss resigns over quiz row

Mr Corley said he hoped his departure would restore trust

The managing director of GMTV is to resign after it was discovered competitions on its ITV1 breakfast show were not being conducted fairly.

Paul Corley appeared on the show in April to apologise to viewers after an investigation found some quiz entrants had no chance of winning.

He said he hoped his resignation, along with a series of initiatives, would help "restore trust" in GMTV.

Viewers who believe they were affected can apply to the station for a refund.

"We would like to apologise unreservedly again for the occurrence of these errors," said Mr Corley.

"It is important that people take responsibility when mistakes are made that threaten the trust of our viewers."

We know that competitions are popular with our viewers and GMTV hopes to bring them back when the right controls are in place Paul Corley, GMTV managing director

The firm will hold 250 free prize draws for affected entrants, each with a £10,000 prize up for grabs. It will also donate £250,000 to Childline.

GMTV also said it would regularly inspect the firms which provided phone-in competitions in future, and its competitions would no longer start and end within the same daily programme.

'Right systems'

It also said that all finalists would be randomly selected by GMTV employees.

"We know that competitions are popular with our viewers and GMTV hopes to bring them back when the right controls are in place," said Mr Corley.

WHO IS PAUL CORLEY? Began TV career at the BBC Produced music show The Tube Factual controller at ITV, 1996-1998 Commissioned Airline and Neighbours From Hell Chief executive of Border TV, 1998-2000 Managing director of GMTV, 2001-2007

"These measures are intended to show viewers that the company will have the right systems and compliance procedures in the future to ensure that this will not happen again," he added.

He will remain in his post until the measures have been implemented.

Icstis and Ofcom, the the premium rate services and broadcasting regulators, are continuing to carry out their own separate enquiries.

The BBC's Panorama claimed the company behind the phone-in competitions, Opera Interactive Technology, had been finalising shortlists of potential winners "long before" lines closed for the past four years.

Opera Interactive Technology admitted it had found "certain irregularities" and apologised to viewers.

In a statement the company said: "We have put in place new compliance procedures to ensure this never happens again and we hope these remedies will be seen as a positive step forward."