ITV Defends Premium Rate Phone Vote Plans

14th November 2007

ITV has defended plans to ask viewers to vote for the outcome of a new drama, Rock Rivals, despite coming under fire over phone scandals. TV viewers will be asked to decide the winner of Rock Rivals, a drama series based on the X Factor, which stars Michelle Collins and Sean Gallagher as married rival judges.

Scheduled for broadcast on ITV1 early next year, it follows a damning independent report on premium rate phone-ins on ITV shows. Auditors found "serious editorial issues" with Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Gameshow Marathon and Soapstar Superstar. The broadcaster is estimated to be facing an £18 million bill. Rock Rivals will not charge viewers to use premium rate numbers but will ask viewers to pay to vote for the outcome.

Speaking at ITV1 winter-season launch, Director of Television Simon Shaps said: "Our first job is to make absolutely certain that when viewers vote, the outcome reflects what viewers voted for." Ant and Dec apologised to viewers after Saturday Night Takeaway, which they host, was involved in the scandal, with viewers spending millions on worthless calls. Mr Shaps said of Ant and Dec: "They were the executive producers but absolutely gave us the assurance that they had no knowledge of the problems that occurred."

He defended Chairman Michael Grade's decision not to sack TV bosses following the publication of the Deloitte report, saying the individuals involved had acted in the way they had to make "the best possible show". Mr Shaps insisted that it had been "an extraordinarily good year on screen ...." even though it had been "a terrible year for TV" because of the scandals. "It's completely clear that we could not and will not accept behaviour by people who make programmes that call into question the transparency of those shows... We won't tolerate it", he said. "Michael has drawn a line under the incidents we have seen. It's now very clear that we have got to get our house in order. Those mistakes or errors will not be tolerated again."