Shipa's Big Brother row

Ofcom, an independent regulator, was flooded with over 45,000 complaints for the alleged bullying and racism meted out to Shetty on the reality show, as the issue made headlines across the world and even figured in the British parliament.

In its adjudication report released Thursday, Ofcom ruled that Channel 4 contravened its broadcasting code after making "serious editorial misjudgements" that were "compounded by a serious failure of its compliance process".

As a result of the breach Channel 4 will have to air a summary of Ofcom's findings on three occasions during the next series of Big Brother, along with a series of apologies. However, Channel 4 has escaped a fine.

The channel apologised again Thursday and said it accepted Ofcom's ruling. The show's creator, Endemol, said it too accepted the findings and "sincerely regretted the level of offence caused by events in this series".

"We are grateful to Ofcom for recognising that the events of this series were in no way engineered or manufactured," the company added in a statement.

Ofcom singled out three occasions where it felt the channel had failed. One was where Jade Goody referred to Shetty as "Shilpa Poppadom", and the second was when model Danielle Lloyd told the Indian actress in foul language that she should go home.

The third centred around an argument that occurred when Shetty was cooking chicken - Lloyd and Jo O'Meara were both seen making offensive comments about Indian cooking. In unseen footage from the show, Goody, O'Meara, Lloyd and Goody's boyfriend, Jack Tweed, were seen making up a limerick about Shetty in which they joked about using a word which they said rhymed with "tacky".

Channel 4 will have to publish transcripts of a series of previously unheard and potentially racist conversations that took place within the Celebrity Big Brother house.

"Ofcom takes allegations of racist abuse and bullying on television extremely seriously. An unprecedented number of complaints were received and, whilst Celebrity Big Brother was still on-air, we launched a full investigation," said the Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards.

"Broadcasters must be allowed to air controversial material but when they do, their compliance and editorial procedures should be even tougher and sharper."

Labour MP Keith Vaz, who led protests in parliament over the issue, has called for Channel Four chief executive Andy Duncan to resign.

He said: "I welcome the adjudication by Ofcom. This is a vindication of the huge number of complaints that were made by viewers. Andy Duncan should now apologise to Shilpa Shetty and realise that the contempt that was shown by them during this whole episode, in my view and that of many of the viewers who complained, now merits his resignation."

Culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, who at the time of Celebrity Big Brother row denounced the show as "racism being presented as entertainment", said she was "grateful to Ofcom for their thorough examination of these issues".

"Public service broadcasters hold a very special place of trust with the British people, and it is right that they are held to account by the regulator when there are issues of public concern," Jowell added.

"Errors of judgment were made which Channel 4 has acknowledged. I therefore welcome the measures that they have taken to ensure proper and rigorous oversight. We will be watching very closely to ensure that these have the desired effect."