£80,000 fine over Comedy Awards

Robbie Williams gave the People's Choice award to Ant and Dec

Ofcom has fined Channel TV £80,000 for breaking broadcasting rules during the British Comedy Awards in 2004 and 2005.

Viewers were encouraged to continue voting on premium phone lines for the People's Choice Award after the winner had been announced.

The fine on the ITV franchise holder also covers the over-riding of the 2005 People's vote.

Channel TV was not knowingly involved in the incident but was responsible for making sure guidelines were followed.

Ant and Dec handed back the 2005 trophy after it was revealed Catherine Tate had actually won the public vote.

Channel TV, based in Jersey, has been fined £45,000 and £35,000 for the two separate breaches.

Rules broken

The broadcasting watchdog found that in both 2004 and 2005 the vote for the People's Choice Award was finalised early.

The final half hour of the ceremony was pre-recorded and broadcast as live on ITV after the news. In that time viewers were asked to keep voting, however the winner had already been announced in the ceremony.

In its report Ofcom called the breaches "entirely foreseeable, serious, reckless and repeated". Channel TV admitted this breach was "entirely unintentional but nonetheless stupid".

Catherine Tate picked up the best TV comedy actress prize at the ceremony

ITV launched an independent inquiry into the awards last year after claims of irregularities.

It discovered that Catherine Tate's show was the rightful winner of the People's Choice Award in 2005 despite Ant and Dec being given the trophy.

The TV stars handed back the trophy and were said to be "absolutely appalled at the error".

Ofcom looked into claims the presenters were given the award to ensure the attendance of their friend Robbie Williams, to present the trophy.

Ofcom ruled it was unable to conclude definitively whether the substitution took place as a result of Robbie Williams's alleged booking condition or the alleged involvement of ITV or the ITV Network.

Regrets

ITV has issued a statement saying it "very much regrets Channel Television's failure".

It added: "Viewers and the talent involved in the show were badly let down."

Channel Television said it "deeply regrets this uncharacteristic oversight and apologises unreservedly".

The directors of Unique Communications Group, parent company of awards show producer Michael Hurll Television, said:

"We are appalled and deeply regret that the British Comedy Awards, which has been a much loved event for 20 years, should have been affected by the actions on one occasion of certain senior people who were entrusted with its production.

"Changes were made to the Awards show in 2006 and 2007 to ensure that the issues could not arise again."

They said the decision to override the public vote "raised serious concerns" and their efforts had been "unrelenting" to discover how the selection issue had occurred.

"We are disappointed that after more than two years of investigation the published findings as to those who are responsible remain inconclusive," the directors added.