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Ofcom has imposed a record fine of £300,000 on Five over breaches of the broadcasting code by Brainteaser.
On March 8, Five pulled the quiz participation TV programme off the air after it was alerted to "issues" by production company Endemol. At the time, Five CEO Jane Lighting said the channel was "shocked and disappointed" and offered an unreserved apology to viewers. Earlier this month, it was revealed that Five was considering the submission of a compensation claim to Endemol to cover lost revenue.
Ofcom's content sanctions committee has adjudicated that Brainteaser breached rule 2.11 of the broadcasting code, which pertains to the fair conduct of competitions, on five occasions: once on January 25, twice on February 15, once on February 20 and once more on March 6.
In a statement, the committee said:
"The use of production staff posing as ‘winners’ and the entry of fake names was in breach of Rule 2.11 of the Code which states: “Competitions should be conducted fairly…”. Viewers were misled into believing that genuine winners had been awarded a prize when in some cases no-one had actually won the competition in accordance with the programme’s rules."
The committee further said that the entering of fake names or production staff as winners "had become an established part of the procedures in place for the conduct of these competitions over a period of years dating back to 2003" and for that reason considered that the five specified breaches "should be seen against a background of serious and longstanding compliance failures" that resulted in the audience being "substantially misled."
Ofcom has specified that in addition to payment of the fine, Five will have to broadcast a statement of the regulator's findings on two occasions - once during the lunchtime slot in which Brainteaser aired, and once during peak time.
Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards said: "We take these issues extremely seriously and will not hesitate to protect viewers’ interests. Every broadcaster needs to take very careful note of this decision."
In a statement, Five chief executive Jane Lighting responded to the adjudication: "Five has always accepted that breaches occurred with regard to Brainteaser. However, we are disappointed with the very high level of the financial penalty imposed, especially as we believe Five took all reasonable and appropriate steps to ensure the programme complied with the Ofcom Code.
"We welcome Ofcom’s acknowledgment that: Five acted in good faith at all times; did not intend to deceive the audience and took comprehensive steps to remedy harm and that it was not Five’s intention to cause financial harm to viewers nor procure greater financial gain.
"It was Five who notified Ofcom of these issues and we have co-operated fully with the regulator since. We have also conducted our own review, as the relationship of trust between a broadcaster and its audience is absolutely paramount to us.
"Five notes the acknowledgement by Endemol, the makers of Brainteaser, that it made mistakes and fundamental errors of judgement on the occasions highlighted."
Five added that the programme "will not be returning to the channel’s schedules" and said that it has been working with Endemol "to ensure that winners are found for the affected competitions and will donate all profits from these competitions to a cancer charity."
