Sky slammed over false advertising claims

ASA takes broadcaster to task after complaints from BT

Written by Guy Dixon

vnunet.com, 29 May 2008

Sky has been brought to book after making "misleading and denigrating" claims about BT.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint from BT after being asked to investigate a Sky Talk advertisement.

The Sky advertisement stated: 'Despite advertising price cuts, BT are giving 11 million customers a price rise today. Are you one of them?

'At Sky, we believe in real value and fair and honest pricing - that's why Sky customers can get call packages with Sky Talk that are a lot cheaper than either BT or Virgin Media, with no funny business.'

BT claimed that the ad was misleading and denigrating, as it implied a deliberate attempt to mislead customers by surreptitiously increasing its prices.

The ASA ruled that Sky "went beyond a robust and objective price comparison and implicitly attacked BTs business practices".

The ad was misleading and denigrated BT

Advertising Standards Authority

The regulator told Sky to refrain from engaging such practices in the future. "We concluded that the ad was misleading in that respect and denigrated BT," the ASA said in its ruling.