The£2 million fine dished out to Carlton TV by the Independent Television Commission after an independent inquiry confirmed that The Connection was faked is being viewed as 'a clear sign'
The£2 million fine dished out to Carlton TV by the Independent Television Commission after an independent inquiry confirmed that The Connection was faked is being viewed as 'a clear sign' of the regulator attempting to flex its muscles.

Carlton was ordered to pay a£2 million fine to the Government and instructed to broadcast an apology on-screen.

The ITC said it had 'seriously considered' shortening Carlton-owned Central's licence - Central broadcast The Connection on the ITV network - and added it would have 'no hesitation in applying that sanction were breaches of a similarly serious nature identified concerning any other programme'.

One factual commissioner said the fine and comments reflected the watchdog's determination to come out on top of any changes the Government may make to the regulation system.

'This is a clear signal to the Government that the ITC knows what regulation is for and where it has a duty to get involved.'

ITC chairman Sir Robin Biggam said The Connection constituted a 'wholesale breach of the trust between programme-makers and viewers' largely due to having key personnel with little TV experience.

He added: 'The broadcasting industry has been subject to a process of casualisation with fewer people employed on staff and more on a freelance basis.

'The board of Carlton Communications should be in no doubt that such an unprecedented breach of compliance must not be allowed to recur.'

Carlton's own inquiry admitted 11 main areas of potential breaches of the ITC Programme Code, mainly concerning respect for the truth and labelling of factual reconstruction.

The fine is only the second imposed on a terrestrial licensee; Granada TV was fined£500,000 in 1994 for undue prominence in This Morning.

Don Christopher, Carlton TV's former controller of compliance and legal affairs who resigned last month, will join Media Insurance Brokers on Monday (11 January).