BT Sport has been told to stop airing an ad as it didn’t make clear how viewers would be able to watch the channel.
The complaint, brought by rival TalkTalk and others, said the ad was misleading as it failed to make clear that customers could only watch BT Sport online unless they had access to BT TV with Infinity or Sky Digital.
“Because we considered the on-screen qualification did not make clear that BT Sport was only available to view online unless customers also had access to Sky Digital or BT TV with Infinity, and because it was not shown at the time the ‘free’ offer was referenced in the voice-over, we concluded the ad was misleading,” the ASA said.
Another complaint was that the ad depicting a customer in a couple of business premises was unfair as the service was not free to business customers whether they were online or not.
The ASA ruled that the viewing restrictions were not sufficiently explained by messages on screen and the words “UK residential only” appeared to contradict these scenes on business premises.
The ASA ruled that the ad must not be broadcast again in its current format.
“We told BT to ensure that ads for BT Sport ‘free’ offers included a clearly worded qualification that BT Sport was only available to view online unless customers also had access to Sky Digital or BT TV with Infinity and that this was displayed at the time the offer was referenced,” the ASA said.
“We also told them to take care if featuring scenes of BT Sport being watched in businesses in such ads if the offer did not apply to BT business customers.”
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