BBC facing £250,000 fine over telethon quiz scams
By PAUL REVOIR

The BBC is facing a record fine of up to £250,000 after repeatedly ripping off licence fee payers on a string of shows.

The amount, however, is nowhere near the £4million sanction ITV is facing over its scandals, as it is protected from big money punishments.

Many are annoyed the corporation is insulated against hard-hitting fines, because it is funded by the public.
The BBC is expected to receive its biggest ever sanction when Ofcom rules on its faking of competition winners on a number of programmes.

Viewers on shows including Children in Need, Comic Relief and Sport Relief were all duped.

Production staff were found to have made up names of winners and even posed as contestants.

The regulator, which will rule on 12 cases, will not give the BBC any special favours. An Ofcom spokesman said: "Whether publicly funded or not the same rigorous high standards apply to all."

The fine will almost certainly be a record and the maximum £250,000 censure is thought to be under serious consideration.

Last year, the BBC was fined £50,000 for one comparable incident, which saw Blue Peter fake a competition winner.

A second Blue Peter rip-off, which saw programme-makers ignore the results of a competition to name the show's cat, is among those Ofcom will rule on.

Other shows it will consider include The Liz Kershaw Show, which faked competition winners over a prolonged period. It is set down in law that the regulator can fine the BBC no more than £250,000, as it does not make profits and its cash goes on making programmes.

Ofcom's final judgment is expected within the next two months.

When the BBC revealed its antics last year it confessed to "utterly unacceptable behaviour".

Many of the scandals emerged after a trawl of around one million hours of output.

The Comic Relief incident took place in March last year, two days after the initial Blue Peter con had come to light.

Viewers had been asked to call in to win prizes, but the winner was actually a member of the production team.

This also happened on Sport Relief in July 2006, while a Children In Need segment in 2005 saw the name of a fictitious ten-year-old winner being read out on air.

Last week, it emerged ITV could be fined £4million for its phone-in scams. Viewers wasted almost £8million as they took part in competitions in which winners had already been chosen.