Do The Licence Payer: BBC Fined, And Elisa Roche Auditions For Countdown
IT would not surprise us to learn that Pudsey Bear, BBC Children In Need’s overstuffed monocular mascot, has 20-20 vision.
The BBC has been fined £400,000 for “deliberately cheating” the public with fake phone-in competitions. The BBC is funded by the public, meaning that we have been cheating ourselves. And that is not on!
Right it is then that we should pay, and the Beeb has been censured.
Luckily, as the Mail says, the BBC is protected from big fines because it is publicly funded. This means the people who phoned in and spent money entering competitions they had no chance of winning need only fork out a little more again for the fine.
And that is only fair.
Although it gets worse in the Express, which leads with: “BBC is fined ½ m in fake contest scam.”
It then does the maths, and Elisa Roche becomes the latest hackette to audition for Carol Vorderman’s role on Countdown. Roche adds up the penalty points and calculates that – yes – the BBC has been fined £400,000.
And as any BBC employee would tell you, that’s half a million quid. That’s the correct answer.
It’s good to know that with the Beeb in the mire, you can still trust the Express…
Those Countdown Auditons:
Posted: 31st, July 2008 | In: Money, Tabloids, TV & Radio Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
