Advanced Television

Sky rapped over Virgin ads

October 28, 2008

BSkyB has been criticised by media watchdog Ofcom for breaching advertising rules during its' channel carriage dispute with Virgin Media cable. Virgin complained about a series of ads referring to the loss of Sky channels on Virgin. Ofcom said that undue prominence was given to telling Virgin viewers they could switch to Sky’s service. It concluded that the promotions, broadcast in 2007, were not in the spirit of advertising regulations.

Sky said that the set of promotional segments informed viewers of the availability of its services for their benefit. It considered there was a “significant risk” at the time that its channels would no longer be available on Virgin Media. The broadcaster added this was an “effective method” of inviting Virgin viewers to come out in support of keeping Sky channels on the service. It added that the promotions were temporarily ceased when negotiations resumed.

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