National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has said it is investigating whether phone-in competitions on TV stations are genuine.

Head of Public Affairs, NBC, Awwalu Ibrahim, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the commission would not tolerate any attempt to swindle TV viewers.

Concerns have been expressed by viewers about rip-off charges on purported live TV phone-in competitions on some national television stations.

Some viewers are of the view that premium rated calls on TV competitions are being used to generate revenue from the public.

Ibrahim said: `` as a responsible regulatory body, we have taken the initiative to start investigating the programmes.''

``Believe me, if we find anybody that is doing anything fraudulent, the commission is going to descend heavily on him or her, without prejudice to the circumstances involved.''

He said the commission would not hesitate to take actions against broadcast stations that put out pre-recorded versions of programmes, as live broadcasts.

``With all the sophistication at their disposal, it took the BBC five years before they were able to identify one of such fraudulent activities and they took actions against it,'' he said.

``In our own case, we have been carrying out investigations and we have also been working with other organisations in government to see if we can nail some of these people.''

The NBC spokesman also said the quality of services of cable television operators in the country was also being closely monitored.

He said some of the providers had acknowledged they had problems in their activities, particularly during the rainy season.

`` When it rains the signal strength dies-out and that is not really their fault, it is the nature of the satellite signals, which they are working with and bad weather affects satellite broadcasts,'' he said.

He advised consumers to report any suspected dubious practice by TV or radio stations to the commission.