ITV is said to have broken Ofcom rules as viewers who entered some of their competitions via post "had no chance of winning".

The shows that had competitions which reportedly breached rules included Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning, Loose Women, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, La Vuelta and X Factor: The Band.

Ofcom's investigation found that some viewers who entered the competitions with postal votes were excluded altogether, The Mirror reports.

This means ITV broke Ofcom's rules that all broadcast competitions must be conducted fairly.

An Ofcom spokesperson told The Mirror: "Our investigation found that people who entered these competitions by post were excluded from the draw, with no chance of winning.

"ITV failed to follow proper procedures and this led to a clear breach of our rules, which require all broadcast competitions to be conducted fairly."

The broadcaster added: "In all cases, some viewers who participated using the postal entry route had no chance of being selected to win the competition."

ITV said in a statement: "The integrity of all viewer competitions run by ITV is an absolute priority for us, therefore any related error is taken very seriously and is a matter of sincere regret.

"Since discovering the errors relating to six competitions, ITV has implemented new measures for processing free postal entries.

"We note that Ofcom acknowledges that these were unintentional human errors that affected some free postal entries and a relatively small number of competitions compared to the number we operate overall and that ITV acted immediately and proactively in addressing and reporting the matter and taking action to avoid a recurrence."

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ITV usually invite viewers to enter their competitions via phone, text message, website or by post.

Viewers are charged £2 to enter via text message, phone or online, while postal entries are usually free, although some require the viewer to buy a stamp.

Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has established itself as the regulator for communications services people use daily.

  • Good Morning Britain
  • Loose Women
  • This Morning
  • ITV

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