BBC admits holding on to charity money

LONDON (Reuters) - The BBC admitted on Friday it had failed to pay 106,000 pounds which should have gone to charity from viewers' calls to premium rate phonelines, the latest such scandal to hit broadcasters.

The BBC Trust, the body which oversees the broadcaster, ordered the corporation to apologise on air to viewers and to take disciplinary action against some staff.

An independent review found that Audiocall, a subsidiary company, had retained all money raised from telephone calls when voting lines were closed, including sums that should have gone to charity.

The practice, which took place from October 2005 until September 2007, involved small individual sums, but collectively the amount that should have gone to charity was 106,000 pounds.

That was the equivalent of 1.3 percent of all money raised for charity by the BBC using premium rate phonelines in that period.

"The sums due to charity have now been repaid with interest. We would like to apologise to viewers and to the charities for this serious error," the BBC said in a statement.

One of the shows affected by the error was the "2007 Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up" when there had been a very large "spike" in calls when the voting lines were closed, the report said.

The BBC Trust decided that all money, 6,090 pounds, generated as a result of that mistake should go to charity.

The announcement comes a day after media watchdog Ofcom handed ITV a record fine of 5.68 million pounds for cheating viewers over phone-in competitions on some of its most popular shows.