ITV Suspends Premium Interactive Services

LONDON, March 6: ITV has suspended its premium-rate
interactive services and has appointed Deloitte as independent auditor to
review those services, after viewers were overcharged when they submitted
red-button votes for The X Factor.

The suspension covers all premium rate landline, mobile
(excluding pay downloads) and red button activity. The Deloitte review will
“ensure that all existing procedures are robust,” ITV said, and will look back
at premium interactive services in shows over the past two years.

“Interactive elements will return, program by program, as
soon as they have passed the scrutiny of the independent audit,” ITV said. This
will cover ITV productions, co-productions and independent productions.

John Cresswell, the COO of ITV plc, commented: “This is a concern across the whole industry but ITV
viewers can be confident that we will always act responsibly and take firm
action to address issues that may arise. Millions of people enjoy interacting
with ITV—either by voting in our entertainment shows or by taking part in
prize competitions. It is critical that our viewers have absolute confidence in
the services that we offer.”

Last week, ITV admitted that it inadvertently overcharged
viewers who used the red button on their Sky set-top boxes to vote for
contestants on the last season of The X Factor. Between October 14 and December 16, red-button voters were charged
50p per vote instead of 35p. The situation came to light once ITV received the
latest red button revenue statement from Sky, showing a surplus of £200,000.