Grade: 'No heads to roll over phone scam'

No heads will roll over the latest phone-in scandal to engulf ITV, the broadcaster's chairman Michael Grade has said.

Ofcom has launched an investigation after it emerged a popular ITV show hosted by presenters Ant and Dec ripped viewers off.

The Deloitte Review said applicants for the 'Jiggy Bank' competition in the Geordie duo's popular Saturday Night Takeaway programme had no chance of being selected.

It emerged the location for a giant pig full of £1 coins was meant to be nominated by callers to the programme and then selected at random. But in reality it was chosen weeks ahead with a shortlist of entrants drawn up.

Mr Grade said he did not want a "witch-hunt", adding: "In some instances there has been disciplinary action, but I don't intend to take a couple of token scalps in expiation. That would not solve the problem."

However, John Whittingdale, chairman of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said: "I am surprised that nobody is going to lose their job."

He continued: "I quite accept Michael Grade's assurance that there was no venality or corruption involved, but if we look at other broadcasters - Peter Fincham the controller of BBC One resigned over misleading viewers over the Queen, we have seen the resignation of the managing director of GMTV.

"The examples that have been exposed at ITV are very, very serious and it does seem strange that nobody appears to be carrying the can."

Other ITV shows targeted for ripping off viewers include Gameshow Marathon and Soap Star Superstar.

Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly said they had not been aware of the phone-in scandals and are "extremely disappointed" by what had happened.

McPartlin said: "We'd like to make it clear that we had no idea these problems existed. We have been fully supportive of this review and are extremely disappointed to discover that these irregularities have occurred."

He added: "We fully support the changes that have been made within the programme as a result, and we're 100 per cent behind ITV's decision to reimburse all the viewers who were affected."

Donnelly added: "The Saturday Night Takeaway viewers are of the utmost importance to us and although we had no direct involvement in the phone line process, Ant and I are now reassured that strict measures have been put in place to ensure that these kind of incidents can never happen again."

Following a damning report into premium rate ITV phone-ins, the Deloitte Review found around 10 million calls were affected by the premium-rate blunders and a total of 8.57 million callers are now eligible for refunds.

ITV will have to pay £7.8 million in viewer reimbursements and the total cost of the clean-up - including phone-in problems at GMTV - will come to £18 million.

An Ofcom spokeswoman said: "ITV's review of its premium rate telephone services has identified a number of serious issues in the conduct of votes and competitions in its programmes.

"These appear to raise serious questions for Ofcom (under its Broadcasting Code) as well as PhonepayPlus - the premium rate telephone regulator.

"Ofcom will be investigating the cases which have come to light today and has requested further information from ITV."

ITV bosses have promised that money will be repaid and cash not collected will go to charity.

One of ITV1's most popular shows, The X Factor, opens its vote lines on Saturday and Sir Michael promised: "We are absolutely confident it will be clean as a whistle as a result of the Deloitte process.

"We expect massive voting this weekend. It's the public appetite that drives this."

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