Oh dear!

James Gardner is LIVE on price drop right now but he's also on speed auction which is pre-recorded but on the graphics it says 'LIVE EVENT'.

Reminiscent of the debacle that happened a few years ago with Paul Evers, news which made the tabloids when he was live on bid but also on price drop which was pre-recorded.

I'm sure the ASA reprimanded them and demanded they not do it again!

I know they've had a lot of pre-records recently but they haven't displayed the word 'live' which has been good.

Maybe they don't think it will be noticed as speedauction isn't on freeview but they could get into a lot of trouble for this if its reported this time!

"Assessment
Not upheld

The ASA understood that, whether a hosts presentation was pre-recorded or live, the sales auctions were always live and there were no fundamental differences in the way they were carried out. Both channels carried out live reverse auctions, where the prices fell in regular increments from the start price and ended when all the items were sold out or when a countdown clock finished. In both cases the sale finished with all consumers paying the price marked for a particular product on screen at the end of the auction.

We noted that 'LIVE' was marked on screen during the auctions and acknowledged that some viewers might understand the hosts presentation on Bid TV was also live, when it was pre-recorded; only the sales auction was live. We also acknowledged that some viewers might be confused by seeing the same presenter selling different items live on different channels at the same time. However, we noted that there were no claims that the hosts presentation on Price-drop TV was being conducted live, and the host made no references to the specific bids that were coming in or to the prices at which the items were currently selling, whereas we noted that his presentation on Bid TV referred to the pricing throughout and he read out text messages from viewers who were watching and had just made a purchase.

Because the information about the auctions and sales was live on both channels and consumers could rely on live sale information when making their purchase decisions and bids, we concluded that the broadcasts were unlikely to materially mislead viewers.

We investigated the ads under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 5.1.1 (Misleading advertising), but did not find them in breach."

They are allowed to say it's live, as there is a producer in control of speed auction, even though the footage is recorded.

Why do they always make sure that the word 'live' is taken off the screen for infomercials then?
And furthermore when they used to broadcast airtime savers they used to consciously remove the word 'live' from their DOG!

Because the infomercials have the graphics embedded, and the producer doesn't have to be there, because the price is fixed for an hours show. As for your latter part of the question, I don't know, but there wasn't any reason for them having to do it.

The other pre recored were not "live auctions" they were fixed price sales the gardening features for example they were not 3 hours of selling different products with the same price and a fixed quantity.