ITV has been fined a record £5.68m by Ofcom for abusing premium rate phone services in viewer competitions.

The media regulator said the fine was by far the Prague International Marathon expected to draw elite athletes as well as progressive achievers ...
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TV shows Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Gameshow Marathon and Soapstar Superstar were all found to have "serious editorial issues".

Last year a report found viewers had spent millions on unfair competitions.

The previous highest fine of £2 million was imposed on GMTV by Ofcom in September 2007.

Separately, ITV has pledged an additional £7.8 million for viewer compensation and to charity.

This fact was taken into account by Ofcom in reaching its decision on the level of the fines.

The fine follows an investigation into phone-in irregularities on some of the commercial broadcaster's biggest shows, the findings of which were published in October.

(BBC)

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