Radio group to stop profiting from prem SMS after ICSTIS rap

Link: Radio – News – GCap: No more profits from premium rate phone-ins – Digital Spy

Radio group GCap Media – owners of London’s Capital Radio and  national station Classic FM amongst others – have announced they’ll no longer profit from premium services after a £17.5k rap on the knuckles fine from regulator ICSTIS.

Digital Spy reports that the fine relates to “a competition on the company’s One Network of 31 stations in January where listeners were asked to call or text to enter, with some mistakenly providing an answer. The callers that provided wrong answers were deliberately selected to appear on air to give their incorrect reponses. In doing so, the competition broke the Icstis code.”

Following the incident, the media group said they have conducted a full review into the operation of their premium rate services, and would ensure that ‘any charges are commensurate with the cost to the business’

In a statement, GCap said: “GCap Media has always made every effort to ensure that our competitions comply with all relevant legislation and regulation and that above all, they are fair. As the system error was discovered, we took swift and decisive action to tighten up our procedures to prevent any similar breaches occurring in the future.”