ASA Adjudication on British Sky Broadcasting Ltd

Ad

A national press ad and a magazine insert for a Sky TV, Sky Talk and Sky Broadband package.

a. the national press ad was headed "see speak surf". Further text stated "It's showtime. Sky TV, Sky Talk and Sky Broadband all for just £26* per month ... SPEAK with amazing value Sky Talk. You get free evening and weekend UK landline calls.**"

b. the magazine insert was also headed "see speak surf" and text beneath the "speak" heading stated "Sky Talk Free UK# evening & weekend calls". On the reverse of the insert text stated "Great news. Sky has combined three great products to give you super fast broadband up to 8mb download speed and free UK evening and weekend calls, along with Sky's great TV entertainment". Further text, in a box titled "speak", stated "Sky Talk Freetime - FREE UK# evening and weekend calls".

Issue

BT challenged whether the claim "Free UK evening and weekend calls" was misleading, because they believed that element had previously been available as part of the Sky Talk package on its own and the calls were therefore an 'inclusive' part of the package rather than 'free'.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Sky said Sky Talk was a home telephone calls service available only to Sky TV subscribers.  They said the service first launched in 2003 and since that time they had offered a number of different call packages.  They provided a table that outlined the details of each of those packages.  They said their Sky Talk Freetime package had launched in December 2006 and Sky TV customers paid no monthly fee for Sky Talk Freetime and there was no charge for UK landline evening and weekend calls.  They said that prior to December 2006 they had not provided a calls package that offered both evening and weekend calls for no monthly charge.  They said therefore that the calls in questions were free for Sky TV customers and that their cost was not included in the £26 price point.  Sky said they were aware that the ASA had a policy that elements of packages could be described as free only for a reasonable period, even if the cost of the element had not been included in the package price.  However, they said if a consumers liability for any costs had been made clear and the cost of the element had not been included in the package price, they considered that the reasonable period restriction was not necessary, because consumers were unlikely to be misled.

Sky also said they believed "see speak surf" was not a 'package' within the meaning of CAP Code clause 32.3, because consumers could exercise genuine choice as to how many of the individual services they took.  Sky asserted that even if consumers incorrectly formed the impression from the ad that "see speak surf" was a 'package', the calls could be described as "free", because their cost was not included in the package price.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted Sky Talk Freetime had been launched in December 2006 and there was no monthly cost and no extra charge for evening and weekend calls to landlines.  We noted Sky Talk had been available since 2003 but that none of the previous call services had offered both evening and weekend calls for no monthly charge to Sky TV customers.

We noted Sky believed that "see speak surf" did not constitute a package, because consumers could chose which products they took.  However, we considered that consumers were likely to regard the combination of the "see speak surf" services for one price as a package and as such the "free" calls would be seen as one element of that package, which incurred a monthly cost of £26.  Because the calls were a new element of the package and they incurred no extra cost, we considered that the calls could be described as "free" for a reasonable period.  We therefore concluded that the ads were not misleading.  

We noted Sky's assurance that the cost of the "free" calls was not included in the £26 package price.  We considered, however, that after a reasonable period (in this case six months), because consumers would continue to pay subscription for the whole package and the calls were likely to be seen by consumers as a permanent, standard feature of that package, the calls would be "inclusive" rather than "free".

We investigated the ads under CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness), 32.3 (Free offers and free trials) but did not find them in breach.

Action

No further action required.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)