ASA Adjudication on Setanta Sports Ltd

Ad

An ad for Setanta Sports, in The Non-League Paper, was headlined "From Blue Square Premier, to Barclays Premier League, We're on your side". The ad showed live match schedules, from August to November, for the Blue Square Premier and the Barclays Premier League. Fixtures listed included Altrincham vs Cambridge United on 18th September, Aldershot vs Exeter on 2nd October and Woking vs Farsley on 4th October. Small print stated "Fixtures correct at time of going to print".

Issue

A viewer, who had purchased Setanta Sports specifically to watch advertised Aldershot matches, said the ad was misleading because live fixtures including:

1. Altrincham vs Cambridge (18th Sep) ,

2. Aldershot vs Exeter (2nd Oct), and

3. Woking vs Farsley (4th Oct)

were not shown on the Setanta Sports Freeview TV channel.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Setanta Sports (Setanta) believed that the ad was not misleading and the caveat "fixtures correct at time of going to print" was a truthful representation. They said the Altrincham vs Cambridge, and the Aldershot vs Exeter fixtures were not screened due to clashes with European Champions League matches. They said they would be screening matches featuring those four teams later in the season. They said the Woking vs Farsley fixture was not screened due to a clash with a UEFA Cup match.

Setanta said that, because live sporting events can be postponed, cancelled, or re-scheduled at very short notice, they can never be 100 per cent certain that what appeared in their advertising would appear on screen. However, they said they endeavoured to ensure that all advertised matches were screened. They said the ad would not be used again.

Assessment

1., 2. & 3. Upheld

The ASA acknowledged that live sporting events could be postponed, cancelled, or re-scheduled at very short notice. However, we considered the caveat "fixtures correct at time of going to print" was likely to be interpreted by readers as implying that fixtures would only be changed under circumstances beyond the control of Setanta. We noted that the decision to screen European fixtures instead of Blue Square Premier fixtures was made by Setanta and was not due to circumstances beyond their control. Because the ad did not make clear that advertised fixtures were liable to be changed by Setanta, we concluded the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clause 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

The ad should not be shown again in its present form. We said that similar ads should include a caveat explaining that fixtures may be changed at short notice.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)