ENGLAND – Broadacasting regulator Ofcom has ruled that ITV misled viewers by airing footage showing Fernando Torres as a fully contributing member of Chelsea Football Club, which was actually material taken from FIFA 12.
The broadcaster issued an apology to viewers after in-game footage of the video game was used in a broadcast of a 2011 UEFA Champions League match between Valencia and Chelsea.
Ofcom said the viewers of this programme were misled as to the nature of the player their team had bought, adding: “it was a significant breach of audience trust”.
‘It was obvious’
The broadcaster admitted human error led to the footage from an Xbox 360 being diverted to the live feed during the break and not noticed until Torres made a significant contribution to the game.
ITV said that “regrettably” the broadcast footage was not cross-checked and verified against the last 15 hours of game time featuring the Spaniard.
“If they had seen any of his games over the last 12 months they would have known what they were looking at could only have come from a video game,” said a regulator spokesman.
A total of every Chelsea fan watching the programme alerted the regulator, raising concerns the footage broadcast showed Torres justifying a small fraction of his price tag.
Chelsea fan Dan Marks recalled: “When I saw Torres show a quick turn of pace to coolly slot the ball home something was wrong, so I called up immediately to complained.”
Terrible mistake
“We apologise unreservedly to anyone that thought Fernando Torres had returned to form,” said the ITV programme director. “Looking back, it was a little strange to see Torres celebrate a goal for Chelsea, but I guess we weren’t thinking too hard.”
He did however say he was now considering picking up a copy of the latest FIFA game as it “looked pretty realistic.”
Finding ITV in breach of the broadcasting code, the regulator said it was “greatly concerned” the broadcaster failed to authenticate the two pieces of footage – a mistake “shadowed only by the money Chelsea spent to put Torres in a blue shirt.”
Meanwhile, Ofcom has said it will not investigate complaints about BBC Formula One programme, after it aired 10 minutes of footage from Mario Kart in a recent broadcast.
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