Reports suggest ITV's executive chairman Michael Grade has offered to meet MPs next month to alleviate their fears over Sky's 17.9% stake in the broadcaster.

According to Broadcast, MPs have appealed to Alistair Darling, the secretary of state for trade and industry, to intervene over concerns that Sky's stake may have an influence on ITV's programming.

Meanwhile, an early day motion has been tabled in Parliament by the Liberal Democrats, criticising BSkyB for what it calls "misleading advertising", following the two ads which were censured by the Advertising Standards Authority last week.

The press ads, which ran in the Whitehaven region in Cumbria, stated that terrestrial TV was to be switched off, when in fact consumers would still be able to obtain terrestrial services through the digital terrestrial platform.

The advert stated: "Don't worry that your terrestrial TV signal is being switched off. We've got it covered," and went on to encourage consumers to switch to Sky otherwise they would "not be able to watch TV," after the region switches over to digital in October.

Ian Foster MP said: "This digital mix-up served the purpose of undermining Freeview. As opponents of Freeview and a nationwide switch to digital, Sky's actions could be in danger of jeopardising a project with cross-party and public support."

Sky defended the advertisements, saying they had decided to conduct a specific marketing campaign in Whitehaven after consultations with Digital UK, the independent organisation leading the digital switchover between 2007 and 2010.

Elsewhere, Virgin Media customers have complained to the ASA and Ofcom about Sky adverts which encouraged customers to contact Virgin Media as channels such as Sky One could be withdrawn if Virgin Media did not pay Sky a "fair price for them".

Negotiations on the new carriage deal for Sky channels are expected to be completed by the end of this month.

Sky is also considering a formal complaint against Virgin Media over its recent press adverts, which claimed "The cheapest place to get Sky Sports isn't Sky".