ASA backs Virgin Media's broadband ads

The ASA has backed Virgin Media after Sky filed a complaint about the content of a national press advert for the cable operator's broadband service.

In the Mother Of All Broadband ad, Virgin described its fibre optic broadband as "future proof" and "designed with the internet in mind". It also claimed that the copper wire technology used by Sky for its broadband is inferior to fibre optics as the latter offers "low signal attenuation, low signal interference and high data-carrying capacity".

According to Sky's challenge, Virgin's ad offered insufficient indicators to claim that its broadband was superior to Sky's. The satellite firm also questioned whether Virgin's broadband could be described as "future proof", instead arguing that the operator was no more equipped to cope with next generation internet requirements than any other provider.

The final point raised by Sky was that fibre optic cabling predated the internet and therefore Virgin could not describe it as being "designed with the internet in mind".

In response to this complaint, the ASA said that the development of fibre cabling and the internet "could not be definitively separated" and so upheld Virgin's statement.

The official body also indicated that viewers would likely comprehend that Virgin was merely highlighting the superiority of fibre-based broadband compared to ADSL copper wire networks in the ad. Therefore, it ruled that the advert would not mislead viewers and rejected Sky's complaint.

Earlier in the month, the ASA banned an advert for the Sky+ HD service due its potential to mislead consumers about installation costs.