So we discover this morning that Ofcom has fined the BBC £400,000 for misleading viewers and listeners in a number of competitions. The full text of each of the eight adjudications can be found on Ofcom’s website.
It’s the biggest fine that Ofcom has ever laid on the Corporation in one go, but for eight incursions the amount is on a par with the £50,000 penalty imposed after the various Blue Peter scandals.
While the cost of the fine is, ultimately, borne by us licence fee payers, given the huge level of income that the licence fee structure provides (£3.369 billion, according to the Corporation’s latest annual report) it’s barely more than a dent (and is also just less than the base salary, before bonuses, of BBC Directior of Vision Jana Bennett). It’s also far less than the £5.675 million fine imposed on ITV for its premium rate phone lines.
But just what does Ofcom do with all this money?
The Office of Communications Act 2002, which set up Ofcom in the first place, has a paragaph on its finances, including “any penalty that is paid to OFCOM in pursuance of any provision made by or under any enactment”. Sub paragraphs (2) and (3) talk about excesses:
(2) Any excess of OFCOM’s revenues for any financial year over the sums required by them for that year for meeting their obligations and carrying out their functions shall be applied by OFCOM in such manner as the Secretary of State, after consultation with OFCOM, may direct.
(3) A direction under sub-paragraph (2) may require the whole or any part of any such excess to be paid to the Secretary of State.
(4) The Secretary of State shall pay any sums received by him under sub-paragraph (3) into the Consolidated Fund.
Let’s look at the fines Ofcom has received in the last year and a bit:
- £300,000 from Five in June 2007
- £50,000 from the BBC in July 2007
- £2 million from GMTV in September 2007
- £1.5 million from Channel 4 in December 2007
- £5.675 million from ITV in May 2008
- £400,000 from the BBC in July 2008
That’s a smidgen under £10 million pounds in revenues from fines. It would be nice to find out exactly what the regulator is doing with that little windfall…
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