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09/05/2008
ITV Presenters Hand Back Award
Presenters Ant and Dec will return their television comedy award after it was revealed that they didn't actually win it.
It has been a week of disgrace for ITV with a record fine of £5.68 million being handed down to the broadcaster yesterday by regulator Ofcom.
The Catherine Tate Show should have been the winner for the People's Choice Award, according to an independent report.
Olswang, a law firm based in London, said: "Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway was wrongly announced as the winner of the People's Choice Award. The correct winner was The Catherine Tate Show which, at the time of the announcement of the winner, had attracted the most votes."
The report revealed that British Comedy Awards organisers wished to seal the attendance of singer Robbie Williams who would be happy to present the award "if recipients were Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly".
However, at the time Williams was given the assurance that the comic duo would win, the winner was still unknown and "dependant upon the public vote".
However, the report added that "it could not be concluded that this was the reason why the wrong winner was announced".
ITV revealed the deceit as part of the statement responding to the fine which Ofcom say is "by far the highest imposed".
The broadcaster said said in response to the fine: "We welcome Ofcom's recognition of the 'wide ranging and timely' steps voluntarily undertaken by ITV. ITV has gone further than any other broadcaster in instigating an independent, systematic and comprehensive investigation into all allegations around premium rate services in its programmes.
"We believe that Ofcom's scrutiny of the evidence we provided will reassure viewers and rebuild the public's trust in ITV.
"It is clear that these serious breaches of trust were evidence of gross editorial errors of judgement designed, mistakenly, to enhance the viewer experience. In no case is there evidence that there were any corrupt attempts to generate further revenues."
ITV said it would reimburse viewers to a total of £7.8 million, which "is almost double the amount ITV actually received from the calls".
A spokesperson for Ant and Dec said that the revelation "was a surprise to them" and that they would be returning the award.
Actress Catherine Tate has not released a statement.
See: Ofcom Hits ITV With Record Fine
(DS)
It has been a week of disgrace for ITV with a record fine of £5.68 million being handed down to the broadcaster yesterday by regulator Ofcom.
The Catherine Tate Show should have been the winner for the People's Choice Award, according to an independent report.
Olswang, a law firm based in London, said: "Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway was wrongly announced as the winner of the People's Choice Award. The correct winner was The Catherine Tate Show which, at the time of the announcement of the winner, had attracted the most votes."
The report revealed that British Comedy Awards organisers wished to seal the attendance of singer Robbie Williams who would be happy to present the award "if recipients were Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly".
However, at the time Williams was given the assurance that the comic duo would win, the winner was still unknown and "dependant upon the public vote".
However, the report added that "it could not be concluded that this was the reason why the wrong winner was announced".
ITV revealed the deceit as part of the statement responding to the fine which Ofcom say is "by far the highest imposed".
The broadcaster said said in response to the fine: "We welcome Ofcom's recognition of the 'wide ranging and timely' steps voluntarily undertaken by ITV. ITV has gone further than any other broadcaster in instigating an independent, systematic and comprehensive investigation into all allegations around premium rate services in its programmes.
"We believe that Ofcom's scrutiny of the evidence we provided will reassure viewers and rebuild the public's trust in ITV.
"It is clear that these serious breaches of trust were evidence of gross editorial errors of judgement designed, mistakenly, to enhance the viewer experience. In no case is there evidence that there were any corrupt attempts to generate further revenues."
ITV said it would reimburse viewers to a total of £7.8 million, which "is almost double the amount ITV actually received from the calls".
A spokesperson for Ant and Dec said that the revelation "was a surprise to them" and that they would be returning the award.
Actress Catherine Tate has not released a statement.
See: Ofcom Hits ITV With Record Fine
(DS)
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