ITV Heavily Fined for Phone Scam by Ofcom

ITV Heavily Fined for Phone Scam by Ofcom

This is a fine example (excuse the pun) of not getting what you pay for. Well you never did actually and the ability of shysters to get punters to part with their money on a legal scam is fairly amazing. This little fiasco really takes the cake. Grade A mistake (whoops there's another pun).  

The fine may not be as high as Ofcom could have imposed, but the media regulator's verdict on ITV's misconduct is still damning.

The fine of £5.675m is almost three times the previous record - the £2m incurred by GMTV for its own phone vote scandals - and well above recent widely-reported predictions of £4m. (BBC analysis on the Ofcom fine on ITV)

The media regulator said the fine was by far the highest ever imposed and reflected the seriousness of ITV's failures and their repeated nature. (BBC report of the fine on ITV)

ITV has revealed that The Catherine Tate Show was robbed of a prize at the 2005 British Comedy Awards. (BBC on ITV admitting Ant & Dec should not have received award)

: 08 May 2008 19:53 |  Tags: Itv Itv Ofcom Fine Media Issues And Debates Media Studies |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Freesat Launched May 2008 in UK

Freesat Launched May 2008 in UK

Thompson and Grade launch Freesat (Guardian image)

Freesat was announced as early as September 2005 however its announcement of a launch in 2006 seems to have been a little premature.

Freesat's real value to ITV and the BBC is that its satellite technology will allow them to screen many more channels than the 47 currently available on Freeview, the free-to-air digital terrestrial platform.

Crucially, Freesat will also have much greater capacity for screening shows in HD. Analysts have compared the move to HD pictures with the transition from black and white to colour TV. (Daily Telegraph 05/05/08)

Channel Five is expected to join Freesat in the near future, once programming rights issues had been resolved. For now the service will features BBC, ITV and Channel 4 networks. (Guardian)

Murdoch on Murdoch (Times on Sky versus public service broadcasting)

Freesat will allow consumers to get unlimited, as well as high-definition, digital television for a one-off payment, starting at £49.99, plus an £80 installation fee.

The service will carry exclusive high-definition coverage of England’s home football games and FA Cup matches from next season — a plan that prompted immediate criticism from the satellite broadcaster Sky, which is 39.1 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times.

Freesat, which is backed by a £6 million marketing campaign, says that it will be better than the existing Freeview service because it will provide many more channels and cover almost the whole of the country. (Times article)

Webliography

BBC Video report on the launch of Freesat

BBCs Mark Thompson upbeat as Freesat Begins

2005: Free Satellite War begins 

Digital  Spy article on Freesat

: 08 May 2008 19:28 |  Tags: Digital TV Freesat Media Issues And Debates Public Service Broadcasting Satellite TV |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem