Misleading Ad on Broadband Speeds of Rivals Lands BSkyB in Trouble
A recent press ad by BSkyB attacking its rivals BT and Virgin Media has resulted in the broadband service provider being hauled up by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). A joint complaint by BT and a private user has resulted in the organization banning the ad, which claimed that BT and Virgin Media restrict the broadband speeds of their subscribers during peak hours.
The ad claimed that BSkyB subscribers do not face controlled speeds at peak times, unlike the subscribers of Virgin Media and BT Broadband. In defence of its statement, BSkyB claimed that in theory, any subscriber of its rivals could face the problem owing to their use or traffic management systems, especially during peak hours.
The ASA accepted the fact that the companies do use throttling, wherein speeds of subscribers using high amounts of bandwidth are restricted in order to ensure smoother traffic flow for the rest of the network. However, it felt that to imply that all the subscribers, including those with lower bandwidth requirements, would face this issue was a misguided statement that was likely to confuse different subscribers.
The ASA has therefore banned the ad from being reprinted as it was a misrepresentation of facts and was particularly targeted at comparisons with competitors.
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