Nine’s top rating breakfast host Ben Fordham has been pinged by the media watchdog for failing to properly disclose an on-air commercial deal with ride-share giant Uber.

Fordham, the public face of 2GB, breached the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) broadcasting rules after making favourable remarks about Uber on August 3 last year, but did not disclose a personal commercial deal.

During a segment with financial commentator Peter Switzer, Fordham said he had taken up a “side hustle”, taking his first customer as an Uber driver.

“I said I was going to become an Uber driver … guess what I’ve done this week?” Fordham said, while discussing statistics about Australians taking up second jobs.

Sister station to 2GB in Melbourne 3AW also breached the rules, after its afternoons presenter Jacqui Felgate made favourable remarks about German car manufacturer BMW, without disclosing a commercial agreement she has with Berwick BMW. Felgate was not personally named by the authority, but was identified through public disclosures, and confirmed by Nine.

The ACMA ordered both stations to take remedial action, including formal training on disclosing commercial relationships for its presenters, producers and sales staff.

The Sydney network must also commission an external audit into its compliance processes, after having previously breached the rules in 2021.

A Nine spokesperson said the company accepts the findings by ACMA, but criticised the broadcasting code for failing to capture sports and entertainment shows, as well as programs on the ABC.

“Nine Radio fully endorses the standard and consistently seeks to comply with it completely.”