GMTV ditches company that ran its phone-ins

GMTV has cancelled its contract with Opera Interactive Technology, the company which runs its phone-in competitions, after a BBC investigation claimed that callers had been cheated out of millions of pounds.

The announcement followed an earlier decision to suspend all GMTV phone-in competitions in light of the allegations made by the BBC's Panorama programme recorded for last night.

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Panorama said it found shortlists of potential winners which had been finalised before premium-rate phone lines to the broadcaster's breakfast show closed, depriving subsequent entrants of a chance to win. It estimated the amount of money these entrants spent trying to enter was £45,000 a day about £10m a year.

Angry viewers responded to the allegation by bombarding GMTV's online message board yesterday, forcing it to close the service to new comments.

Last night a GMTV statement said its own inquiries had confirmed irregularities in the way Opera had managed its interactive services and that it was "terminating" its services.

In its own response to the allegations, Opera said it had recently improved its procedures so that all competition entrants were now considered "equally and fairly", and the company had not benefited financially from errors in the past.

It also said it had removed relevant staff from their normal duties on GMTV competitions pending further investigation.

Icstis, the premium rate services regulator, is examining the claims surrounding GMTV and has launched an inquiry into Opera's systems.

GMTV said it was determined to reimburse its viewers who believe they have lost out in entering competitions and was looking at ways how to do so.

Its statement added: "The trust of our viewers is paramount to GMTV and we will take all steps necessary to regain it."