Media
GMTV likely to escape police probe
Published Thursday, Sep 27 2007, 11:21 BST | By Joanne Oatts

This comes following yesterday's announcement that media regulator Ofcom will impose a £2 million fine on the broadcaster for its "gross negligence" in running premium rate phone-in competitions, with millions of viewers paying to enter when they had no chance of winning.
GMTV has said it takes full responsibility for the breaches, but the chairman of the culture select committee, John Whittingdale, has said the police should take it further.
Whittingdale told Channel 4 News: "I think the police should certainly look at it. It is fraud. People were paying money over in the expectation they might win, when they had absolutely no chance of ever doing so. That is - by most people's standard - fraud, and therefore the police should probably look at it."
Scotland Yard is not currently looking into the matter, and said it would only do so if asked to by the regulator. However, Ofcom has said that the decision on whether it is fraud or not is a "matter for the police and not the regulator".
Following its £250,000 fine on GMTV's premium rate phone service provider Opera earlier this week, the premium rate regulator Icstis said that it found "no evidence of criminal activity" in its investigations of the matter.
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