A LEGAL loophole involving Channel Television could save ITV millions of pounds in fines, according to national reports.

Regulators are said to be furious that ITV will escape heavy fines because responsibility for compliance on the 2005 Comedy Awards rests with the Channel Island franchise, not ITV plc. An independent report has concluded that viewers of the awards were deceived when the People’s Choice prize was deliberately given to TV stars Ant and Dec and not the real winner, comedian Catherine Tate.

Premium-line phone voters were also encouraged to continue calling even though the award had already been handed out. A report in yesterday’s Sunday Times said that any fine for the deception can be based only on CTV’s relatively small advertising budget and not the £1.5bn available to the network giant.

Privately owned CTV therefore faces a maximum fine of 5% of its advertising. The article says the penalty could be a ‘derisory’ £175,000, or even as little as £50,000.