One of UTV's production companies, Optimistic Media, issued a statement last month stating that it had secured a contract to produce a radio show called Cash Time for UTV's local stations in Ireland.

According to the statement, the show would be broadcast on Saturday and Sunday nights and would be networked across most of its local stations.

However, last week, UTV Radio Ireland's managing director, Ronan McManamy, revealed that UTV "knew absolutely nothing about it".

The announcement is believed to have caused some friction between UTV Radio and the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) but sources said this had since been resolved.

UTV subsequently forced Optimistic to issue a statement saying that its AIM announcement was incorrect.

McManamy said that UTV Radio had never even considered launching a radio quiz show in Ireland.

"Under broadcasting rules, you can't even run adverts encouraging gambling, and from a programming perspective, it would not fit in with the broadcasting culture of the country, " McManamy said.

He also admitted that the controversial nature of the format could have resulted in a backlash from listeners which would have outstripped any benefits.

Industry sources have said that if Optimistic's announcement was found to have breached stock market rules, it was likely to be viewed as a minor matter.

A spokesman for the LSE said it could not comment on specific companies but said that "we expect high disclosure standards on all our markets and we will fully investigate any cases where this may not be the case".

In a statement issued on behalf of Optimistic Media, the company clarified that the radio show in question "will not be shown in Ireland.

It will only be broadcast to audiences in the United Kingdom".