GMTV fined £2 million. Blue Peter presenters apologising on air to youngsters for fixing a competition to name a kitten. Fake winners on programmes across BBC, ITV and Channel Four.

One wonders quite where the TV phone-in scandal is going next.

It seems as though a new scam is unearthed every day. The losers, of course, are the viewers.

The GMTV fine announced yesterday is just the latest in a series of punishments handed out to broadcasters.

Yet the fines are chicken feed compared with the amount of money these companies have made from premium rate phone-in competitions.

Now let us be clear on this. All parts of the media - including local newspapers - make use of premium rate phone lines.

But broadcasters have been using the lines to fleece their customers - and it has taken years for them to be found out.

The GMTV fine appears substantial at first glance. Yet the company is being punished for charging an estimated 18 million viewers £1 a time to enter competitions for which winners had already been picked.

So 18 million people over a four-year period paid out £1 to enter competitions they could not win. You do the maths.

A £2 million fine versus at least £18 million in revenue. It doesn't seem such a big stick any more, does it?

Broadcasters now have a huge task on their hands attempting to prove to their viewers that they can be trusted.

We suspect it will be many years before that happens.