The Mint a game show screened on the ITV play channel and hosted by Brian to become an online gaming brand.

The Mint hosted by Brian Dowling and shows like it are to be binned. ITV concede the after-midnight formats have been damaged by "negative publicity"
over a series of phone-in scandals.

"ITV Play's call-TV programming will be phased out by the end of this year as negative publicity following compliance problems across the sector has seen call volumes drop to uneconomic levels," the company said in a statement outlining future strategy today.

John Cresswell, the ITV chief operating officer, added: "ITV Play is not losing money, but we just don't believe it's a growth business any more.
There are issues around compliance and lack of confidence. "Call-TV after midnight on ITV1 will not be returning but there's a huge appetite for viewers to interact with our programmes."

ITV axed the ITV Play channel earlier this year but is still screening phone-in games and quizzes under that brand name in the early hours of the morning. The decision comes as the broadcaster braces itself for a record fine of up to £2.8m for the GMTV premium-rate phone-in scandal, which cost viewers millions of pounds.

ITV claims to be aiming to keep online content free but does not completely rule out a paid-for model in the future.  It seems the future could be closer than may be imagined they have inked a large partnership with online gaming giant Party which would suggest they are looking to replace the lost revenues from ITV Play with the promotion of hard edged gaming formats such as Poker and Backgammon.