GMTV’s competition phone line provider was fined a record £250,000 (€358,666) for picking potential winners early at a cost of some £20m (€28m) to callers, the regulator said today.

Britain's Richard and Judy premium rate TV quiz was hit with a record fine today – as the phone operator said the problem was occurring in 2004.

Channel 4 is offering refunds to viewers who spent cash voting to evict Big Brother contestant Emily Parr.

Ringtones specialist MonsterMob today wrote off profits growth in the UK until 2007 at the earliest as it waited for more people to use 3G phones.