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ASA Bt Broadband

Sky Broadband ad banned by ASA following BT complaint

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By Katie Deighton, Senior Reporter

March 16, 2016 | 2 min read

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned a press ad for Sky Broadband after BT claimed its ‘Fastest peak time speeds measured by Ofcom’ was misleading.

First seen by BT in May 2015, the ad claimed it offered the fastest peak time, fixed-line broadband speeds up to 38MB when compared to BT, Plusnet and EE.

BT complained that as the Ofcom report cited did not take into account Wi-Fi performance, the statement was misleading. Sky disputed the accusation, stating it factually reported Ofcom’s findings and did not infer other claims.

The ASA announced on its site today that it had upheld BT’s complaint, finding that the ad breached codes relating to misleading advertising, qualification and exaggeration. The ad will not appear again in its current form, and Sky has been told to make clear in the future that speed claims related to fixed-line performance only.

It also noted: "We also noted that a significantly larger number of tests had been carried out for Sky's router than for those of its competitors and considered that could have had a bearing on the performance averages reported in the document. For those reasons, we considered that Sky had not adequately shown that its router performed better in terms of speed than those of its competitors.

"Because the ad did not make clear that the 'fastest peak time speeds' claim related to fixed-line broadband performance only, and therefore did not include Wi-Fi performance, we concluded that the claim was misleading."

ASA Bt Broadband

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