Ofcom fines the BBC £95,000 in respect of Radio 2 and BBC London 94.9FM

Ofcom fined the BBC a total of £95,000 yesterday for breaches of Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code ('the Code') in respect of its services Radio 2 and BBC London 94.9FM. 

The fines have been imposed for the unfair conduct of competitions. These fines follow previous penalties imposed earlier this year.

Specifically, Ofcom has found the BBC in breach of Rule 2.11 of the Code (“Competitions should be conducted fairly...") for inviting listeners to enter competitions in pre-recorded programmes that were broadcast ‘as live’:

Radio 2, Dermot O’Leary, broadcast between June 2006 and December 2006 £70,000

BBC London 94.9FM, Tony Blackburn, broadcast between December 2005 and December 2006 £25,000

Ofcom considered that these breaches of the Code were serious. The investigation found that BBC had repeatedly taken pre-meditated and deliberate decisions to include audience competitions in pre-recorded programmes. The BBC invited listeners to enter these competitions at the time of the broadcasts, in the full knowledge that the audience stood no chance of either entering or winning. However, it was noted that these competitions were not run for profit. Ofcom also recognises the extensive steps the BBC has taken to ensure future compliance in this area.  

Ofcom has also directed the BBC to broadcast a statement of its findings on each of the stations.

The full Adjudications are available on the Ofcom website at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/obb/ocsc_adjud/

Ofcom has also published its decisions on a number of other BBC cases relating to audience competitions and voting. These are available in the final Broadcast Bulletin of 2008, at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/obb/prog_cb/obb124/

hese findings conclude Ofcom’s investigations of audience participation in BBC programmes broadcast up to and including 2007