Ofcom has today fined Radio 2 and BBC London 94.9FM a total of £95,000 for breaching the Broadcast Code. The fines, like a number the media regulator has levelled this year, are for unfair conduct of competitions.
The fines follow previous penalties that were imposed earlier this year. The media regulator specified that both broadcasters had invited listeners to enter competitions in pre-recorded programmes that were broadcast ‘as live’.
The incidents occurred on the Dermot O’Leary show on Radio 2 between June and December 2006 who received a fine of £70,000 and Tony Blackburn’s show on BBC London 94.9FM between December 2005 and December 2006, they were fined a total of £25,000.
In its report, Ofcom said that the BBC had repeatedly taken pre-meditated and deliberate decisions to include audience competitions in pre-recorded programmes in the full knowledge that the audience stood no chance of either entering or winning. However, it was noted that these competitions were not run for profit
