A good day to bury bad broadcasting news?

For a second this morning I thought ITV had pulled off a "good day to bury bad news" trick of Jo Moore and Martin Sixsmith proportions.

With Britian's media hacks camped outside the BBC's Television Centre all debating whether it would still be there next week, and, if it was, would there be anyone left to staff it, ITV appeared to quietly let slip the results of the inquiry into their phone call scandals.

Actually, it turned out that it wasn't a masterstroke of media planning - the full report will in fact be published tomorrow. The headline figures leaking out appear to be quite eye-watering though. 10 million calls from the audience that were charged for and either not counted or not entered into competitions - with an estimated £8 million bonus for ITV as a side effect, which will now have to be paid back.

It makes re-naming a cat on the basis of the advice given to you by your technical team look like small change, and even less of a sackable offence in comparison.

Posted by Martin Belam, October 18, 2007
Read more posts on currybetdotnet about: BBC, Television
     
The views expressed on currybetdotnet are my own, and do not reflect the views of my current or former employers.