GMTV Managing Director To Resign Following 'Unfair' Phone-Ins

The Managing Director of GMTV, Paul Corley, is to resign following revelations over ‘unfair’ phone-in competition.
He appeared on the show in April to apologise to viewers after BBC’s Panorama programme found some quiz entrants had ‘no chance of winning’.
Corley commented on the programme: “We will not bring back our competitions until we are completely sure we have another telecoms operator that is not going to fall into this trap.”
It was revealed that a ‘significant number’ of callers charged at £1.80 a time had no chance as winners had already been picked.
The company behind the quiz scam, Opera Interactive Technology has admitted to ‘certain irregularities’ and has said that it will co-operate with GMTV and regulator Icstis and Ofcom to ensure competition entrants were compensated.
Opera Interactive Technology said in a statement: “Opera Interactive unreservedly apologises to GMTV and any of the competition entrants who have lost out as a result of any irregularities."
There will be 250 free prize draws for affected entrants, each with a £10,000 prize up for grabs. There will also be a donation of £250,000 to Childline.
GMTV has since terminated its contract with Opera.
Corley added: “We know that competitions are popular with our viewers and GMTV hopes to bring them back when the right controls are in place. These measures are intended to show viewers that the company will have the right systems and compliance procedures in the future to ensure that this will not happen again.”
Mr. Corley has said he hopes his resignation along with new measures will ‘restore trust’ in GMTV.
He is expected to leave at the end of September after overseeing the introduction of the new controls.
ITV Chairman, Michael Grade has said that there will be ‘zero tolerance’ for producers who deceive viewers.
It is reported that Ofcom has more than 20 other investigations under way.
(DS/SP)