THE BBC has discovered up to five new cases in which staff are believed to have faked the results of programme competitions.

In each case, programme makers either declared a fictitious winner or posed as participants to cover up technical faults or a shortage of genuine entrants.

The breaches are thought to have occurred on television or radio phone-in quizzes, but BBC sources claim that lucrative premium call rates were not involved in any of the cases.

Mark Thompson, the corporation’s director-general, is expected to report the new cases of fakery to the BBC Trust next week, renewing the row over deceiving viewers and listeners.

Blue Peter faces new scandal

It has emerged that production staff ignored the result of a viewer poll to choose a name for the Blue Peter cat last year

BACKGROUND

• BBC fined £50,000 for Blue Peter scandal

• BBC boss and the Queen’s ‘huff’

• Time to hang up on TV phone-ins

• GMTV cheated 25m of its phone-in callers

“The motivation was largely keeping the show going,” said an insider. “It’s misguided, it’s completely wrong and unacceptable, but this is not a concerted effort to up the revenue.”

In July, Thompson revealed that competitions had been rigged on at least six shows, including flagship BBC1 programmes such as Comic Relief and Children in Need.

Those breaches and the new cases were identified after a massive trawl of programming that was prompted by the decision of Ofcom, the media regulator, to fine the BBC £50,000 for faking the results of a competition on Blue Peter.

The broadcaster has also been in the firing line for wrongly suggesting in a pro-motional trailer that the Queen had walked out of a sitting with Annie Leibovitz, the American photographer.

In addition, plans for the BBC to plug a £2 billion short-fall in funding over the next six years have drawn the ire of some of its most senior presenters.

This weekend Sir Terry Wo-gan, who presents the morning programme on Radio 2, described BBC3 and BBC4 as “superfluous” digital channels that ought to be scrapped to save money. “In these straitened times, they have been a bridge too far,” he said.

“BBC4, in particular, has a tiny audience. If it was scrapped then some of the things it does could go on BBC2, which has not been creative enough in recent years.”

David Dimbleby, the presenter of Question Time, argued that news and current affairs should be “kept intact” and protected from any future cuts. He also criticised the BBC’s decision to pay the presenter Jonathan Ross £18m over three years.

“There is not a single person in the BBC who would defend what Jonathan Ross got,” said Dimbleby. “It was a terrible mistake.”

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