Ofcom Criticises Sky For Its Virgin Media Campaign
Ofcom has deemed as inappropriate BSkyB’s campaign to get viewers to lobby Virgin Media not to “drop” the Sky Channels.
BSkyB aired a number of controversial promotions in February and March 2007, urging customers to put pressure on Virgin Media during negotiations over the carriage of certain Sky channels on the Virgin Media platform.
The on-air promotion said: “If you’re an ntl:Virgin customer you should know that they are doubting the value of Sky One, Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Travel.
“These channels could soon disappear, along with your favourite shows like brand new Lost, 24, Battlestar Galactica and Simpsons. You can help by calling ntl:virgin now on 0845 454 00 00 and urging them to keep the TV you love on air.”
Sky replaced the promotion above with a number of similar ones across Sky-owned channels on cable, talking about Virgin “dropping” Sky channels while they were still in talks about their future on Virgin.
As a result, the two companies failed to reach an agreement and Sky’s channels came off-air (see NewsLine).
Sky continued with its campaign against Virgin Media, this time urging customers to switch to Sky to for “TV you love”.
Sky claims the purpose of each promotion was simply to inform viewers of the availability of Sky channels and to “provide viewers with information as to how they might otherwise receive the channels”.
The satellite broadcaster also said the “Join Sky at sky.com/switch” promotion was not “unduly prominent” and it considered it to be the “shortest, simplest and most effective way of providing the message”.
However, Ofcom concluded that “irrespective of what Sky’s actual intention may have been, the overriding impression” of the promotion went beyond simply promoting Sky channels and was therefore “not appropriate”.
Last month, BSkyB and Virgin confirmed they were in talks about reaching a new deal, which could see Sky’s five basic-tier channels return to Virgin from the start of 2009 (see BSkyB Set To Strike New Deal With Virgin Media).
Ofcom: 020 7981 3040 www.ofcom.org.uk