Sky's "free" broadband advertising campaign last year was legitimate despite users having to pay a £40 connection fee, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled today.

The broadband provider was given the OK after BT complained because it spelled out the exact terms and condition in small print, usually published on the back of the advertising leaflet.

This ruling is in stark contrast to TalkTalk's ad campaign last year that promised unlimited free landline calls for three months, which was considered misleading by the ASA.

In a statement issued yesterday, the ASA stated that Sky's 'free' offer was not judged to be unfair as the connection fee was effectively for a service in its own right.

It said: "We noted there was no monthly subscription fee for the Base Broadband element of the package and understood that BT charged Sky a fee to transfer and connect each Base Broadband customer, which Sky passed on to customers in the form of a connection fee."

The statement concluded: "Because the connection fee had not been inflated to exceed BT's charge to Sky, we considered that this one-off fee to connect the service did not negate the claim that the Base Broadband subscription itself was free."




Thursday, 5th April 2007

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