ASA Adjudication on British Sky Broadcasting Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for "Sky Anytime" stated "Sky Anytime is the new on-demand service that lets you experience Sky on your PC. You can choose from hundreds of great films to watch on your PC ... and all at no extra cost from Sky". Text on-screen added "No extra cost for Sky movies 1 and 2 subscribers. Minimum system and broadband requirements".

Issue

A viewer said that the ad was misleading because it claimed that the service was offered at no cost to subscribers to Sky Movies 1 and 2 but made no mention of the fact that you also had to be a Sky Digital subscriber. The viewer said that the service was not available to people who subscribed to Sky Movies 1 and 2 through a third party such as Virgin Media.

BCAP TV Code

Response

British Sky Broadcasting Ltd (Sky) said that the voice-over in the ad stated "You can choose from hundreds of great films on your PC ... and all at no extra cost from Sky". They said this statement was further qualified by on-screen text which stated "No extra cost for Sky Movies 1 and 2 subscribers. Minimum system and broadband requirements." They said they believed that the inclusion of the words "from Sky" made it clear that the service was only available through Sky and not from a third party provider such as Virgin Media. The purpose of the on-screen text, they said, was to further qualify the fact that the service was only available to customers taking Sky Movies packages and not to customers of Sky in general. They said the ad directed customers to the Sky Anytime website where it was clearly stated in the "What you need" section that the Sky Anytime on the PC was only available through Sky and to customers who had a Sky TV subscription (aside from Sky Sport). Sky said they felt the ad was not misleading.

The BACC said that they were satisfied the ad made it clear that Sky Anytime on the PC was available from Sky and applied to subscribers to Sky Movies 1 and 2 via Sky.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered that the claims "Sky Anytime ... at no extra cost from Sky" and "No extra cost for Sky Movies 1 and 2 subscribers" were ambiguous. We noted the advertiser's comments that the terms and conditions of the Sky Anytime service were available on their website, and that the address of this was given on-screen in the ad, but considered the fact the service was available only to Sky customers was a significant condition that should have been made clear in the ad. Because customers subscribing to Sky Movies 1 and 2 through a third-party digital television provider were unable to acquire the service and the ad did not make this clear, we concluded the ad could mislead.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast )TV Advertising Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising) and 5.2.3 (Qualifications).

Action

The ad should not be shown again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)