TV channels clear phone-in shows
Now why doesn't this surprise me?
Various television broadcasters set up premium rate quizzes/'interactive' phone-in voting systems that earn a respectable side income (if not enough to replace other forms of revenue), and all superficially appears to be OK for a while. Then a succession of scandals rocks the industry, forcing broadcasters to perform a self-audit in an attempt to regain some form of credibility.
But no broadcaster of any description is ever going to subsequently admit "We've been illegally making money for years from this sort of thing, so hit us with a £10m fine", even if their current operations turn out to be perfectly legal. And it would require police intervention (and court orders) to perform a truly thorough investigation.
Plus there is the whole moral issue of whether viewers should be cajoled into phoning premium rate phone lines when other free methods of entry are suppposedly available. An industry self-audit conveniently dodges these vital questions for the time being, and the whole issue ultimately awaits further judgement from government ministers and regulators.
