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£30,000 fine for 'No Deal' competition

09/08/2007

Premium rate services regulator Icstis has fined the phone-in operator for Channel 4 quiz show Deal Or No Deal £30,000 for misleading viewers.

The competition in question, run by service provider iTouch, gave viewers the chance to compete for one of three randomly selected cash amounts - £2,000, £3,000 or £10,000 – by phoning into the pre-recorded show as it was broadcast live.

Because the show was pre-recorded the broadcasters knew the amount of money which was actually being competed for, whereas viewers did not.

Icstis rejected the argument that the general public accepted that most programmes are pre-recorded, saying instead that "there was no evidence that viewers in general were aware that the show was not live".

As a result it ruled that the relevant code of practice was breached under misleading grounds. A separate investigation resulted in the decision that "same chance of winning" regulations had also been breached.

The Deal Or No Deal competition is the latest in a series of flawed phone-in competitions to be unearthed by regulators.

Icstis fined the phone-in company behind Channel 4's Richard and Judy programme £150,000 for prompting viewers to call in when lines were already closed and the BBC was fined £50,000 by broadcast watchdog Ofcom for faking the results of a phone-in.

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