Friday night, June 1st, a new reality TV show called, "The Big Donor Show," was scheduled to air for the first time in the Netherlands on its station, BNN. According to an article on ABCNews.com, the contestants all needed a kidney transplant and the judge was a dying woman who wanted to choose who should get her kidney. The donor and the audience would choose the winning contestant, who would receive the donor's kidney when she died.

At the time the initial news broke, there was much discussion questioning the station's values.
The Dutch Education and Culture Minister was quoted in a Reuters article as saying,

"The intention of the program to get more attention for organ donation may
be applaudable," said Dutch Education and Culture Minister Ronald
Plasterk. "However based on the information I now have, the program
appears to me to be inappropriate and unethical because it is a
competition."

Friday before the show aired, BNN announced that the show was a hoax. Its purpose was to bring attention to the organ donor shortage in the Netherlands where the average waiting time for an organ is 4 years.

I wonder, had BNN always planned the show as a hoax or did they change plans after hearing and reading about people questioning their ethics?

Does it make a difference ethically if they really had planned on airing the show?

Either way, it appears that BNN's ethical stand would be on the principal of utility. BNN has stated that they hoped this show would bring the issue of the organ donor shortage to the forefront and start the dialog that can bring change. BNN also had a more personal reason to take this issue on. The station founder, Bart de Graaf, died 5 years ago of waiting for a kidney transplant.

Without being a part of any meetings the producers at the station had, it's hard to know for sure how their discussions went. Based on what has been reported, it appears that BNN met the criteria to consider their actions ethical.