The managing director of ITV's breakfast broadcaster, GMTV, is to resign, it was announced today, as the station unveiled a package of measures aimed at restoring viewer confidence in its daily prize competitions.

Paul Corley will leave the station as soon as the new initiatives, which include offering refunds to entrants who were wrongly excluded, and a £250,000 charitable donation, have been implemented, GMTV said.

The broadcaster has forfeited around half its profits – worth £10 million on an annual basis – since it suspended its phone-in competitions in April. The quizzes were shut down after it emerged that shortlists of winners were being selected before the lines had closed.

Mr Corley said today that the station apologised “unreservedly” for the errors, and hoped his resignation, along with the new measures, would help “restore trust” in GMTV. He said: “We know that competitions are popular with our viewers and GMTV hopes to bring them back when the right controls are in place.

“These measures are intended to show viewers that the company will have the right systems and compliance procedures in the future to ensure that this will not happen again.

“It is important that people take responsibility when mistakes are made that threaten the trust of our viewers. I hope that my resignation, and the strong measures we have put in place, will help to restore that trust in GMTV.”

After an investigation by the BBC’s Panorama in April, it emerged that a shortlist of potential winners was prepared for GMTV staff at around 8am – an hour before phone lines actually closed.

The competitions cost as much as £1.80 for people to enter, and prizes on offer included £20,000 in cash and a Mazda MX-5 sports car. Watched by an estimated 6 million people at some point in the morning, GMTV says it is the “most watched breakfast show in Europe”.

Mr Corley said a database of possible affected entrants had now been compiled. Anyone who believes they may have been affected can contact GMTV free of charge on the internet or phone to apply for a refund.

The package of measures announced today will see 250 free prize draws held at the end of August for affected entrants, each with a £10,000 prize, as well as refunds.

A £250,000 donation will be made to children’s charity Childline. Opera Telecom, GMTV’s former service provider, will be contributing towards the costs of remedies, the station said.

GMTV also announced a number of new strict measures for the management of future premium rate “interactivity”, including the appointment of a compliance officer who will have specific responsibility for ensuring the processes for premium rate service are followed correctly, both internally and externally.

There will also be regular inspections of any outside companies and no premium rate competition will conclude within the same daily programme. All competition finalists and winners will be randomly selected by GMTV employees in GMTV offices.

GMTV is 75 per cent owned by ITV, with the remaining quarter held by the Walt Disney Company. Technically, the business is operated at an arm’s-length basis, but the operation is chaired by Clive Jones, a former senior ITV executive, who is now spearheading the task of restoring credibility.

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