ITV refunds viewers for 'Real Deal' gaffe

ITV has refunded over £5,000 to viewers after an incorrect question was read out for the premium rate phone-in competition on antiques show Dickinson's Real Deal.

In a repeat of the David Dickinson-fronted daytime programme on ITV1, the competition was edited to include a fresh question. However, the show's closing voiceover was not updated accordingly and so featured the previous question.

A viewer subsequently complained to media watchdog Ofcom that it was not sufficiently clear which question was intended for answer.

ITV said that RDF Television, which re-edited the programme for broadcast on January 19, acknowledged the question discrepancy but failed to correct it due to an "error in the dubbing process". The problem was also not identified by ITV's compliance team.

In response, Ofcom expressed its concern that the broadcast contained "materially misleading information", but acknowledged that the error was an "isolated incident".

ITV, which was fined £5.68m by Ofcom in 2008 for a premium rate phone-in scandal, assured the watchdog that it has already refunded 5,026 of the 15,984 entrants to the competition.

The broadcaster said that any remaining refunds not claimed within the next three months will be automatically given to charity. It also plans to introduce additional checks for competitions in future as part of efforts to be "extra vigilant" against such errors occurring.

"Ofcom was concerned that the discrepancy between the competition question broadcast in vision and in audio had been identified, but was then not corrected during post-production," said that watchdog in its ruling.

"Further, the error also went undetected by ITV’s compliance adviser. This led to the broadcast of materially misleading information which could have impacted the fairness of the competition, and had the potential to cause viewers financial loss.

"However, Ofcom accepted that this was an isolated incident arising from an unusual sequence of human errors. Further, we noted the prompt refund procedures put in place to compensate entrants, and that the broadcaster had improved its processes to prevent a recurrence. We therefore considered the matter resolved."